Strange neighbours
by ProwlingShadow
Summary: It is one thing to have strange neighbours but it's another thing to have alien neighbours. But it's a whole other thing to have a mix of both.
1. Chapter 1

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter one: New home**

It is one thing to have strange neighbours but it's another thing to  
>have alien neighbours. But it's a whole other thing to have a mix of both.<p>

…

Samantha Jerold is possibly what you can call normal. She has curly  
>elbow length honey brown hair, defined cheekbones and sun-tanned<br>skin with lots of freckles across her nose and cheeks. The only thing that isn't normal about her are her eyes. They're a midnight blue and if you look  
>carefully around the edge of the pupil they're black, giving the illusion of her having black irises. Also another thing that isn't normal about her is her new neighbours in South Gate, CA. And that's where our story begins.<p>

"Thaya look at this house, isn't it beautiful?" Sarah, Samantha's mother, was leaning her whole torso out the window of the car as her father, Dave, was pulling up.  
>"Yeah it's pretty, look at that balcony, I shot-gun that bedroom!" Samantha shouted as she climbed out of the car and stretched.<br>"Then I get the garage" Dave said absentmindedly as he began pulling boxes out of the car.  
>"Hey! That's not fair. You know I need the garage for my big project" Samantha moaned as she began stacking boxes on the grass. Samantha's main hobby was tinkering with engines, specifically car engines because she was very familiar with them. She had overrun their old garage with many spare parts and her ever expanding collection of tools much to Dave's annoyance.<br>"I'll give you the half Garage if you have the downstairs bedroom, and I promise to not touch any of your projects." Dave said turning to her.  
>"Yep, deal." She snatched a box marked 'Thaya' and jogged into the house.<br>"Ah crap" she realised what had just happened and looked back out to the car. Dave began laughing at the 'you've got to be kidding' expression on her face when he saw it.  
>Half the garage was fine but it meant that Dave would be storing all the boxes in his half until he and Sarah had unpacked them all, which could be weeks later before they finally get around to it.<p>

She shoved her hip into the wood of the bedroom door and walked into a dark room. From what she could make out in the dark it was a small room but had, to her utter joy a walk-in wardrobe. She dumped the box down on the carpeted floor and opened the curtains getting showered in a thick cloud of dust.  
>"That is so disgusting." Samantha managed to say to herself through sneezes as she walked out of the room and back outside rubbing her nose and eyes.<p>

"Samantha, come here!" Her mother waved at her and she walked down the footpath with red watery eyes and rubbing her nose to her parents who were talking to three people. A woman and what looked like her son and husband.  
>She could hear her mother rambling on to the woman.<br>"We just moved from Western Australia"  
>"Oh how lovely! You have a very strong accent." Sarah blushed at the woman's response then noticed that Samantha had joined their little circle.<br>"Thaya, these are our neighbours Judy and Ron Witwicky and their son Samuel." Samantha smiled at the family,  
>"It's a pleasure to meet you." She inwardly sighed when the woman's gaze doubled-backed to look at her eyes. She hastily covered her shocked expression with smile. She hated it when people gawked at her eyes, for once she wanted people to not look at her like she was an exhibit in a freak show when they first looked at her. Looking away she spotted a yellow Camaro parked out front of their house. She would have given anything to get a closer look at the engine.<br>"So how old are you Samantha?" Judy asked trying to move on from the awkward moment.  
>"I'm seventeen in three weeks" Samantha replied looking back at Judy.<p>

"Oh lucky you, Sam's just turned eighteen." She nudged her son who'd clearly been sleeping only moments before.  
>"Hi, I'm Samuel but I prefer Sam" he smiled at Samantha<br>"I'm Samantha, you can call me Thaya though."  
>"Nice nickname, you're lucky you didn't get stuck with 'Sammy' like I did." Samantha laughed at Sam's comment and spared another glance at the Camaro.<p>

"Dave, Sarah do you need any help unpacking your things?" Ron asked.  
>"We might need some help bringing in the heavier boxes, if you don't mind." Dave answered smiling slightly embarrassed.<p>

"We couldn't afford professionals." Sarah put in sadly.  
>"We'd be happy to help out our new neighbours." Judy chimed like a bell with a big smile.<p>

"Oh that's so kind, we'll have you all over for dinner one night when we're more settled in" Sarah said to Judy before they walked off planning possible dinner party dates closely followed by Dave and Ron leaving Sam and Samantha by themselves.

"Do you need a hand with your bags?" Sam asked looking over at the stacks of boxes and bags sprawled over the lawn near the car.

"Only if you want to help." she replied with a sweet smile. He looked cute with the ruffled bed hair.

While Sam helped Samantha drag her boxes into the house they discussed a lot of things and Samantha even found out that the Camaro was Sam's car. Oh how jealous she was.

**Well here's chapter one for you. I have no idea where the inspiration to write this came from or where I'm going with it but there will be more.**

**Note: This isn't set in during any of the movies or follow up to any of them. I'm just messing about with characters in my own head.**

**ProwlingShadow**


	2. Chapter 2

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter two: Accidents will happen**

Four days after the Jerolds had moved in, they had become quick friends with the Witwicky family. It was like they had been living next door to each other for years. Judy was over most days helping Sarah set up the rooms in the house. Samantha had already finished unpacking all her immediate things and did nothing but work on finishing her big project in the crammed space of her half of the garage and go roller-skating. Sarah kept pushing her to find a school she'd be interested in but little did Sarah know Samantha already had a school in mind. She hadn't told Sarah yet because she knew that her mother would enrol her instantly and she would be back at school before she had a chance to finish her project. She desperately wanted to finish it since she started it over a year ago.

"Mother dear, I'm going out roller-skating!" Samantha yelled from the front porch.  
>"Be careful Thaya!" Sarah called out through a second story window.<br>"Always do!" Samantha replied smiling at the way her mother said her nickname. It was the only one that had really suited her, and she was happy no one tried to call her _Sammy. _That nickname felt too childish to her.

…

Samantha felt the wind whip her fringe around her face and enjoyed the feeling before skating around some passing joggers. She zoomed around a corner at a low crouch to keep her speed fast then straightened up and moved to go faster. Managing to get to  
>her street in record time she whooped and ducked a low branch of the tree that stood in the front yard of an old lady's house with ease and skated on. Samantha had been roller-skating since she turned seven and had unwrapped her first pair of roller-skates.<br>Wanting to make a good record time she gritted her teeth and sped up zooming across the road to get to the side of the street she lived on. Thankfully no cars were around. Samantha sped along the sidewalk for a few meters until she skated right over a raised cement slab. The small jolt of uneven ground was enough for her to wobble and flail her arms around trying to get her balance back.

Samantha's stomach twisted as she realized she couldn't get her balance back so she shut her eyes and prepared to tumble. Pain erupted in her shins as they smashed straight into something and her eyes flew open as the force of her speed threw her over the bonnet of a car. A scream trailed after her body as she rolled across the metal and fell into the sidewalk. Her head cracked into the cement and white-hot pain erupted through her skull. The rest of her body was flung into the ground and she lay there for a moment before blinking white spots away that were clouding her vision. She lay where her body had been thrown and tried to make sense of what had just happened.  
>With her lungs heaving for air and her body shaking she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Pain ran down her spine and through her ribs, and she felt stinging across her shins, back and hands. Blood droplets were forming on her pants and<br>the skin on her hands was torn and bleeding. Instant dizziness hit her but she still ripped off her skates and pulled off her socks to stand. She used the car she had just flipped over as support as the dizziness got worse. Her bleeding hands left blood on the paint in thick red smudges. Anger boiled up as she turned and yelled at the driver,  
>"WHAT THE HELL! YOU COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED ME!" Samantha stopped dead when she saw Sam standing white faced and horror struck next to the car. She had just flipped across his Camaro.<br>"Oh my god, are you okay? You're bleeding" he stared at her rooted to the spot.  
>"No thanks to you." She jeered, the dizziness making her want vomit. Samantha took a few large breaths trying to calm down and stop the head spins.<p>

"Let me help you." Sam went to move towards her but she picked up her skates and started to limp towards her house.  
>"I can manage on my own!" She snarled over her shoulder ignoring his call for her to stop.<p>

…

Sam took a few breaths as he watched her limp away then turned to Bumblebee in a stress induced rage.

"Bee what the hell are you doing driving off without telling me?!" Sam knew that Bumblebee sometimes needed some time to go out and "stretch his legs" but he always let Sam know when he was going. This sneaking out was new.

"_Message from Starfleet Captain…new tasks ahead_" Sam took a moment to figure out what he meant,

"You're going to see Optimus Prime? About what?"

"_That's classified son_." Sam ran a hand through his hair and look over the blood clinging to the yellow metal. He noticed scratch marks over the bonnet probably from Samantha's roller skates.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"_Contac via…text message_." Sam pulled out his phone and saw he had one new message from Bumblebee. It read "New mission Intel. Be back within the next 5 hours." He put the phone back into his pocket and looked the car over once more.

"Okay, let me clean you up before you leave first…I really hope she doesn't tell mom about this, she will strip your paint and ground me for months." Sam walked back up to the house and grabbed a cleaning cloth, drenched it in water then walked back and cleaned up the blood.

"I'll see you later tonight then Bee, please just be more careful next time, this fiasco isn't over yet." Sam said as he finished wiping the blood away with the rag. The engine revved in recognition and the Camaro rolled out the driveway and down the street. Sam walked back up to the house hoping that Samantha hadn't told her parents, he had no idea what to do about what had just happened at all.

…

Bumblebee vented his air systems as he drove away from Sam. He felt horrible for what had happened but thankful he had managed to make a cover story so quickly. If he hadn't hacked Sam's phone placing the text message there he would have no alibi.  
>Optimus hadn't called him at all. Bumblebee was going out to do a background check on the new residents of next door to see if they were any kind of threat to the Witwicky family, especially since that pretender Alice had attacked Sam a few months ago.<p>

He'd been so preoccupied with checking Dave Jerold's family history while leaving the Witwicky property that he didn't even notice the girl until she had run into him. Bumblebee felt guilty and knew that Sam would be paying the price for his carelessness. He knew the girl was fine after doing multiple scans on her but his spark twisted with guilt. He needed to do something, anything to fix the problem he just caused. Even if it meant apologising to the girl in person so Sam would not pay the price for something he did not do.

Venting once more and settling his processors so he could concentrate on the task at hand, he would figure out what to do about the girl later, Bumblebee scanned a building he had pulled up next to until he found the signature he was looking for. Dave Jerold, Pharmaceutical Researcher. His research was the reason the family had moved. Bumblebee continued his monitoring of Dave and even followed the man home.

Bumblebee slid quietly back into the garage and analysed his results. None of the Jerold family had any kind of suspicious background but Bumblebee would still remain on guard until he was certain that the new family could be trusted and were no threat to the Witwickys.

**A/N: I know the chapters are really short but once I get into the flow of this story they will be longer**


	3. Chapter 3

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Three: Injured **

Samantha was sitting on the bathroom floor cleaning and bandaging the cuts and grazes from the accident. There was a bowl of bloody water next to her along with a pile of soggy red cotton balls. She had bruises forming all over and her shins were extremely tender. Her knees, back, and the palms of her hands all had grazes and cuts. Her spine and ribs still hurt from the way she had landed and crumbled on the ground after basically flying over the car but she was fairly sure no bones were broken or cracked. Samantha's head was thumping with every beat of her heart and she had one of the biggest headaches she could ever remember getting. A huge lump had formed right where her head had hit the ground; surprisingly she hadn't split her head open upon impact. _Guess that makes me super, super lucky_ she thought to herself bitterly tenderly touching the lump.  
>Samantha had to put her clothes straight into the washing machine to make sure the blood didn't stain them and had changed into a comfy pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. The grazing on her hands stung when she dabbed it with a disinfectant dipped cotton ball. She moaned through clenched teeth holding the cotton ball to the wound, the stinging began to burn white hot.<br>"OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED?!" Sarah pushed the partially closed door fully open and stood staring at Samantha horrified  
>"Uh um…"<p>

…

Megatron was dying. He lay in broken heap half submerged in an old dam. His legs and abdomen were completely submerged in the black water and the rest of his frame lay on the wet slimy bank. The mud at the bottom of the dam was like clay, it had settled into some of his deepest wirings and mechanical systems and it suck there. There was even algae growing on his submerged armour plating which made his oil tanks churn.  
>The dam was a dumping ground full of old barrels, fridges, stoves and he had even witnessed humans throw other deceased humans in the dam. Megatron had been there, unable to move or speak, for two human years. He spent most of his time there thinking of the reason he was stuck in that retched dam, because of that double-crossing <em>traitor<em> Starscream. He would make Starscream pay for betraying his leader. Megatron's hatred for the mech flared and he wanted nothing more than to tear and rip chunks of wirings right out of the seeker's frame.

He should have seen what Starscream was up to. It all seemed so obvious now. Starscream had led right him into a trap. The Autobots had ambushed Megatron and Starscream had made his escape while the Autobots pursued Megatron for miles. He flew through five states before the Autobots finally fell back. Megatron was so low on energon that his frame shut down while in the air. When his frame finally rebooted from his emergency energon supplies kicking in he found himself immobilized. The fall had destroyed most of his basic circuitry.

No Decepticon had picked up his distress pings nor had he picked up any Decepticon signatures. But he could wait, he would wait too. The motivation that drove him not to give up was the thought of finishing off Starscream once and for all.

"OUCH!"

A loud yelp of pain pulled Megatron from his thoughts. He instantly scanned the area and picked up a human life-form. It was only a few hundred metres away and in his line of sight. It appeared to be a female human and she looked young. The human had cut the flesh of her left upper limb. He could see could see blood trickle down her limb as she examined the injury. The girl pulled off some material she was wearing around her neck and wrapped the limb in it. Megatron watched the human curiously as she bound the material together and looked around her feet. She found what had cut her then picked it up and threw it with all her might. As the thing flew through the air she yelled at it angrily until it hit the ground with a thud.

Megatron did not care for humans at all, they were nothing to him. But he didn't play with them. That was something he had no desire to do. He left all the strange experiments to Soundwave or Scalpel. He watched her movements in yearning, oh to be able to move again.

The girl walked up to where the dirt turned into mud and looked around with an expression and body posture of annoyance. The girl bent over and picked up some stones and began throwing them one at a time into the water. One stone she threw rocketed up into the air and shot down clashing straight into Megatron's shoulder plating. The stone bounced off and into the water, the girl stopped to see what the stone had bounced off and her optics landed right on Megatron's frame. He didn't dare shutter his own optics. The human didn't move for a moment but then her vocalizer came to life loud and clear.

"Oh my god, who would dump that there!" she pulled a communicator out of some material that hung off her frame and clicked it a few time before putting it up to her audio sensor. Megatron quickly hacked into the signal. It rang four times before it connected.

{Hey loser.}

"You are going to love me."

{Really? I thought I already did.}

"Seriously Timsy, I have found something you are going to _love_."

{Okay, so what is it?}

"I can't explain it just bring your dad's tow truck. I'm down at the dam near Quirky's old place. Oh and bring a First Aid kit, I slashed my arm open pretty good."

{Okay I'll be there in half an hour, are you okay?}

"Yeah I'm fine just hurry up cause it might take a while to load up." The signal cut off and the girl put the communicator back in the material. She looked back up at Megatron and blew some hair out of her face,

"I really hope you'll fit on the back of the truck." If Megatron could reply he would have, but he couldn't even activate his vocalizer. Rage began to fill him again.

Slag those Autobots, slag the muddy, slimy dam and all the muck that has clogged his workings and SLAG STARSCREAM!

**A/N: I don't know if this story is pleasing you readers or not so a quick review saying if you do or not would be very appreciated thank you. ProwlingShadow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Four: Discovery **

"How?" Samantha was still sitting on the bathroom floor but now held an icepack that Sarah had given her to her thumping head. Sarah was standing over her with an angry expression. Samantha was thinking quickly, as much as she wanted Sam to pay for the accident, deep down she knew it wasn't completely his fault. The speed she was skating at was very fast and even if she hadn't lost her balance she would not have been able to stop herself in time to avoid running into the car anyway. Samantha also didn't want to ruin the new friendship her parents had made with the Ron and Judy.

Sarah interrupted her thoughts, "Yes Samantha, how did this happen to you?" her arms crossed over her chest and she looked straight into Samantha's unusual eyes.

"I just went a bit to fast around a sharp corner while I was roller-skating and stacked it, really badly. But I'm okay, just a little bruised." Sarah's eyes widened at her last words,

"A little bruised?! Look at yourself you are not a little bruised!"

"Okay, so I'm more than a little bruised but at least I didn't break any bones!"

"Well you're not going out skating again until I see it fit Samantha, you could have seriously hurt yourself and I wouldn't have even known!"

"You're completely overreacting about this but fine!" Samantha was starting to get a headache from all the yelling so she finished off the conversation with that.

Sarah turned and left the bathroom calling out over her shoulder,

"Don't forget you need to find a school to go to or I'll be doing it for you!" Samantha huffed and began to clean up the cotton balls and the bowl of bloody water that was on the floor ignoring the headache she'd gotten from all the yelling.

Once the bathroom was back to its original state she retreated to her bedroom and carefully lay down on her back. Every single second of that crash was clear in her mind. The jolt through her leg when she lost balance, the pain that ran up her shins, the flash of yellow as she flipped across the car and hitting the ground in a crumbled heap.

But what she also remembered as clear as glass was hearing Sam talk to someone when she was limping back to her house. The memory spun around in her head.

"_Samantha wait!" He called. Stopping and leaning against the fence out of sight to breathe_

_I could hear Sam talking,_

_"Bee what the hell are you doing driving off without telling me?!" Silence._

_"You're going to see Optimus Prime? About what?" Silence._

_"Why didn't you tell me you were going?" Silence._

_"OK, let me clean you up before you leave first…I really hope she doesn't tell mom about this, she will strip your paint and ground me for months." _

_Too much pain, must get inside…_

Questions were forming as she replayed the memory. Who was Optimus Prime? Who was he talking to? She didn't see anyone else with Sam when she got up and he was definitely talking to _someone._ What really bugged Samantha was how nervous Sam had become. It wasn't a 'oh no I've hit someone with my car' nervous it was more of a 'please go away quickly, you're about to discover my stash of drugs' nervous.

Samantha knew she had to talk to Sam about the whole thing soon. But she wanted to find out about what he was clearly hiding. She would have to be discrete.

…

Rachel sat down with a sigh on the old couch that was sitting outside under a large, dead tree.

She looked up from inspecting her bandaged arm as Timsy joined her. He slung a well-muscled arm around her shoulders and lifted his leg to rest it on a plastic milk crate that lay in front of him.

Rachel rested her head on Timsy's shoulder and stared at their new project and the work they had done so far. It didn't look like much progress if you looked at how much work that needed to go into it, but if you looked at what they had done in the space of a few days and how well they had done that work, it actually was a lot.

"Hey. You want a drink?" Rachel looked at Timsy and blinked,

"Is that some kind of dirty joke or are you serious?" She felt Timsy shaking as he chuckled.

"I'm serious today. Lemonade?" Rachel stretched her legs out in front of her then let them fall limply back down to the ground,

"Yeah, with ice." Timsy got up and walked from the old couch into his house. He'd been living on his grandparent's farm for three years now but they had since moved on a year ago and had left Timsy the entire property. Over that year the property had turned into a dump filled with scrap metal and junk piles. But the interior of the house he kept neat and tidy, it was out of respect to his grandparents that he kept the house clean. It was an old house but it was home. To both of them. Rachel had been with Timsy since they'd first met and she'd been basically living with him for the last two months.

The small country town they lived near was a quiet settlement with mainly tourists stopping on their way through to their holiday houses. The town was surrounded by farmlands and on the north side there was a dam which had long ago been turned into a dumping ground for the locals.

Rachel looked over their work once more. She couldn't believe what she had stumbled across. _A giant robot_. It would take months, maybe even years to fix it up but she knew it would be worth it. Her eyes traced over the casing, it was rusting and covered in all sorts of crap from being in the dam. They had to hose down each separate part they needed to work on to get the clay out of the inner workings. So far they had stripped down the outer layer of metal and had begun basic repair work on what looked like the left foot.

They had moved it as much as they could so it lay on its back with its head tilted to the side and facing where she sat on the couch.

Her eyes traced back up to its face.

Rachel muffled a shocked scream with her hand. It was looking at her. _The robot was looking at her._ She held her breath as it stared straight into her eyes.  
>It was breathing. It was <em>alive. <em>

Rachel slowly stood up and took a few timid steps towards it. It did nothing so she took another step, then another and another until she was close enough to see the red glow of its eyes. Rachel reached out and slowly moved her hand towards it. Tiny gears moving and whirring inside its eyes were visible and Rachel gently touched the robot face with the tips of her fingers.

A moan rumbled through its frame, a soft pleading moan. Her fingers began to slowly stroke the metal, and she spoke to it,

"Are you alive?" it made another moan but there was less of a plea in it this time. Rachel was in complete shock.

"Oh my god…can you talk?" she whispered. It coughed in answer.

"Oh. You're injured." She found herself drawn closer to it and she was stroking its metal face. A shudder ran through its whole frame. Rachel suddenly took off and ran towards the house.

"TIMSY!" She sprinted straight towards the door completely taking out the figure that had opened the door to see what was going on. He caught her and stumbled back into the house a few steps.

"What is it?" Rachel had already begun tugging him towards the door by his arms frantically. He grabbed her arms in roughly the same spot that she was holding his

"Rachel what is it?" he asked firmly, shaking her a little so she'd pay attention to him. She stopped tugging on him and looked straight into his eyes.

"It's alive."

…

Megatron had been chained up, dragged for miles and dumped on the ground in a matter of hours after the human female had spotted him. Within the next few days the human and her companion had pulled off his armour, hosed out most of his inner workings and begun repair on his frame. It was diminutive and inexperienced repair work by Cybertroninan standards but he was being repaired.

This little human female and her companion were his way to freedom and he was willing to let them crawl all over his frame and pull off layers of armour in order to repair him.

He watched the couple interact over the past few days, they were a strong pair who worked well together. The male was protective over his mate and cared for her deeply. The care she returned to him was just a strong and deep.

Megatron lay, still unable to move or speak, with his head tilted towards where the female sat. The repair work they had done to his foot plating was mainly frame work; they hadn't pulled off enough layers of plating and deep body armour to reach his electrical or mechanical systems. Assuming they could repair his vocal systems he would teach them the anatomy a transformer's frame and talk them through repairing him to a basic functional level.

The female looked up and scanned his frame until her optics landed on his own. She muffled the scream that came from her vocalizer. He vented air through his systems, dust leaving his vents in a cloud. The female stood up and began to slowly walk towards Megatron. Soon enough she had her hand out stretched and fingertips were touching a smooth panel that made up one of his face plates. Megatron tried to activate his vocal processor. A moan rippled through his frame and the pain that tore at his vocalizer caused the moan to cut out. The female began to stroke his face plate.

"Are you alive?" He knew had to be careful. He needed the female to trust him, he needed to be repaired. He let another quiet moan out enduring the pain that it caused his vocalizer.

"Oh my god…can you talk?" He couldn't bear to activate his vocal systems again so he forced his venting system to falter and reactivate forcing the air in his systems out with a cough. The female had moved closer to his frame. She was almost leaning upon him.

"Oh. You're injured." A shudder caused from reactivating his venting systems ran though his frame. Without warning the girl took off running towards the house yelling for the male.

Megatron listened to the conversation,

"It's alive."

"What? What do you mean it's alive?"

"Timsy the robot is alive! I'm serious, come and look!" The female was running back outside pulling the male by his arm. She let go of him and walked straight up to the robot and placed both hands on one of his face plates.

"Show him. Show him you're alive." She whispered to Megatron. The mech activated his pained vocal systems for the third time and let a low moan out, optics shifting to look at the now very pale and shocked male.

"Holy shit." The female laughed at his response.

"We have to fix it. Timsy we have to fix him!"

"...where do we start?" Megatron took his response as a cue to activate the specialised fans designed to cool his vocal system from overuse heat exhaustion. He made them as loud as possible.

The pair heard the start-up of fans and looked at each other.

"Guess he's trying to tell us" Timsy said grabbing Rachel's hand.

**A/N: The italics of Samantha's memory is meant to be from her perspective, that's why it's read a bit weird. **

**I know the editing is bad, if there's anything really horrible. Let me know. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Five: Suspicions **

Bumblebee was a compassionate mech. Most knew this but not many realized just how deep this emotion ran within the scout.

Bumblebee was now certain that the Jerold family was no threat to Witwickys after finishing his background check on the family. It had been one week since the accident and Samantha had healed well. Samantha had not told Sarah the truth about what had happened to her, she had lied to her caretaker.  
>This made Bumblebee both relieved and worried. He was relieved as Sam wouldn't be blamed for Bumblebee's mistake but he was worried about Samantha, she could use the accident as blackmail against Sam if she ever needed to. Bumblebee knew he had to stay alert and keep a close optic on the girl.<p>

…

"Morning sunshine." Dave smiled at the girl standing in the doorway before biting into a buttered piece of toast. Samantha yawned and pulled up her bed hair up into a messy bun with a scrunchie as she walked into the kitchen.  
>"Mornin' dad." She sat down at the island counter next to Dave and Sarah slid a bowl across to her.<br>"You want Cap'n Crunch or Lucky Charms?" Samantha made a face at the cereals,  
>"Don't we have any Weetabix?"<br>"I couldn't find any at the shops, sorry Thaya." Sarah sat down with a cup of coffee and poured some Cap'n Crunch into her own bowl.  
>"That's so lame. I love Weetabix." Samantha took the Lucky Charms and made a small bowl for her to try. After one mouthful she walked outside and poured the contents of the bowl into the garden.<br>"I'll have fruit today" she said walking back into the kitchen.

Dave finished his toast and stood up collecting his things for work.  
>"Dave can you go to the shops and grab some drinks for the dinner party? Judy's making the dessert and I really want dinner to go well so make sure you get some nice drinks, and also something for Thaya and Sam to drink." Sarah said to Dave as he picked up his briefcase.<br>Samantha eyed her,  
>"How do you know Sam doesn't drink alcohol?" Sarah didn't answer because Dave walked back into the kitchen to say his goodbyes before leaving for work.<br>He kissed Sarah's cheek and whispered an 'I love you' into her ear before wrapping Samantha in a hug and kissing her forehead,  
>"I'll see my lovely ladies tonight, farewell my beauties." He grabbed his car keys and left.<p>

"So when is this dinner party?" Samantha asked resting her elbow on the counter and her chin into her hand.  
>"Tomorrow night, oh and I need you to drop this book off to Judy, she unpacked it the other day and thought it looked interesting. So take it over sometime today please? I'd do it myself but I'll be out all day."<br>"Uh huh, sure. When will you be back?" Samantha looked down at the book that Sarah had handed her. It was a romance novel, the front cover was a fit and toned man posing shirtless on a bed. _No wonder she thought it was appealing. There's a half-naked man on the front, _Samantha thought as she got up from the counter. She'd never had a boyfriend before but she has been told by her friends that she had good taste in guys. This guy on the front cover was not appealing to her.  
>"I'm too not sure, maybe three or four this afternoon."<br>"Okay. Well I'm going to have a shower, you have yourself a lovely day mother."  
>"You too daughter dearest" Sarah replied clearing up the counter.<p>

Samantha walked to the bathroom and took a long hot shower which helped sooth the deep pain of her purple and blue bruises. She didn't particularly want to take the book over to Judy for the fear of bumping into Sam. They hadn't talked since the accident and she didn't have any idea what she'd she say to him.  
>Questions were still whirring around inside her head and she still wanted to get answers to them. But walking straight up to Sam and bluntly asking questions wouldn't get answers. At least the truthful ones anyway.<p>

…

Bumblebee was waiting in the garage for Sam to wake up when his sensors picked up someone walking up the driveway to the front door of the Wikwicky house. He recognised the signature of Samantha after scanning the figure. She walked up to the front door and knocked waiting for a response. Bumblebee zoned in his hearing on the conversation that began when the door opened.

…

The door flew open and none other than Judy stood on the other side holding a cup of tea and a big smile on her face  
>"Samantha! Hi sweetie, how are you?" Samantha smiled back at the older woman,<br>"Hey Judy I'm great. I've just come to drop this book off to you." She held up the romance novel for Judy to see. Her face lit up when she saw it.  
>"Oh wonderful, thankyou sweetie. Come in I'll make you a cup of tea." Judy ushered Samantha inside and began making her a cup of tea. Samantha look around their kitchen,<br>"Sam not up yet?"  
>Judy laughed as she opened a draw and pulled out a spoon.<br>"Like most teenage boys he doesn't usually get up before 11 on a weekend, let's see it's ten to eleven of we've got about ten minutes before we can expect to see him."  
>Samantha and Judy talked for fifteen minutes before footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Sam walked into the kitchen wearing running shoes and pulling a shirt on. Samantha kept a smooth poker face when he noticed her presence and went red.<br>"Good morning Sammy, are going running today?" Judy asked noticing his attire. Sam cleared his throat and pulled some headphones out of his pocket,  
>"Yeah, I've got a bet with Miles going on at the moment; he thinks I can't get fitter than him before a month goes by. Morning Samantha."<br>"Good morning Sam, I didn't know you went running."  
>"I haven't been running very long, the bet was only made three days ago. Anyway I've got to get going. I'll see you guys later." Judy and Samantha chorused a good bye as Sam walked out the house. A few moment of silence went by as Samantha finished her tea.<br>"Well I suppose I better get going too, thanks for the tea Judy it was really nice chatting with you." Samantha stood up as Judy took the cup and put it in the sink.  
>"You too dear, I'll see you at the dinner party." Judy replied as Samantha opened the door<br>"yeah I can't wait."

She closed the door and walked down across the grass towards the driveway. As Samantha got close to the garage she could hear a voice. Curiosity getting the better of her she quietly walked over to the garage and listened. It was Sam.  
>"I'm just going jogging for like half an hour Bee, you don't need to follow me. I'm not even going to go that far anyway. You're getting far too worried about this." Samantha could hear a radio being tuned in and out of different stations.<br>"Bee I'll still be within your scanner range anyw-" Sam abruptly stopped talking. She heard his footsteps and she scrambled away to hide. She dived into clump of bushes in the garden bed just as Sam opened the garage door. He looked around then walked out of the garage shutting the door behind him.  
>"Bee there's no one out here. I'm going jogging now okay." With that he took off out onto the street.<p>

Samantha climbed out her hiding place in the garden bed and darted across to the garage door, opened it and ran inside shutting the door behind her. Samantha looked around the garage. There were shelves filled with all sorts of junk and Sam's Camaro sat in the middle of the room.

She sighed, _who the hell was he talking too then_?! She thought irritated. Samantha eyed the yellow and black car and a slight smile formed over her lips. She walked around the car admiring it from all angles. Stopping at the driver's door she reached out and pulled at the door handle. It opened with a click.  
><em>No way!<em> Samantha couldn't resist, she slid into the driver's seat.  
>The interior was stunning! And so clean, it looked new. The car was also completely empty, no rubbish or clothing, or anything that people would usually leave in their cars.<p>

Samantha sat in the car for a few minutes staring at the radio, she had no idea who Sam had talked to and now that it had happened twice she was getting annoyed,  
>"Maybe he is crazy and talks to himself? Or to his car…like a pet…Sam's pet Camaro" she chuckled and got out the car. She quietly shut the garage door and ran back across to her house. She knew she'd need to confront Sam to find out what she wanted to know.<p>

…

"I'm just going jogging for like half an hour Bee, you don't need to follow me. I'm not even going to go that far anyway. You're getting far too worried about this." Bumblebee could tell Sam was tired of him hovering most of the time. Bumblebee was trying to do his job of guardianship without making Sam push him away even more. He cared about Sam like a brother, his respect and love for the boy ran deep. Communication was difficult between the pair because of Bumblebee's damaged vocal processor. Bumblebee wished he could express the meaning of his friendship with Sam to him.  
><em>"Just trying to…take care…of you."<br>_Bumblebee picked up movement outside the garage and cut Sam off midsentence  
>"<em>Quiet… there's something out there."<em>  
>Sam glared at black and yellow car before walking outside and looking around. Bumblebee scanned the area and picked up the signature of none other than Samantha. Bumblebee could have happily found a wall and repeatedly smashed his face against it. He needed to talk to Sam and getting the boy to stop and listen was becoming increasingly difficult.<p>

That girl was up to something. He was about to alert Sam but he was too late as Sam had shut the garage door already. _  
><em>"Bee there's no one out here, I'm going jogging now okay." Sam walked away and Bumblebee inwardly groaned.  
>His attention was brought back to the girl when the garage door opened and she darted in closing it behind her. Samantha walked around Bumblebee and then stopped at the driver's door.<p>

Bumblebee would have screamed when she opened his door if his vocal processors worked. Her sliding into his interior was the last thing he expected. She sat in the seat for a few minutes and Bumblebee waited.  
>"Maybe he is crazy and talks to himself? Or to his car…like a pet…Sam's pet Camaro"<br>Bumblebee was dumbfounded at that. The girl chuckled to herself before getting out, shutting the door and leaving.  
><em>Pet Camaro!<em> Bumblebee vented his cooling systems in indignant anger. Pet! If only she could see what she was calling pet! Bumblebee's anger began to change to dread as he realized that Samantha may soon find out what he truly was if she continued meddling with Sam's affairs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter six: Dinner party**

Samantha woke to the sound of Sarah vacuuming the floors outside her bedroom. Blinking sleepily she looked over to her clock to see it she'd slept in. Eventually getting out of bed she stretched as she walked over to her walk in wardrobe and found some jeans that had holes in the knees, a black tank top and a flannelette shirt after digging around in there. She left the flannelette shirt un-buttoned and the sleeves scrunched up around her elbows. Her curls were squashed and frizzy from sleeping on them so she flipped her head upside down and pulled her hair into a loose bun that sat on the top of her head. Samantha put on her shoes and some deodorant then went to help her mother clean the house for the dinner party they were hosting that night.

Sarah and Samantha worked for three hours cleaning the house and unpacking the last few boxes that sat hidden in corners around the house from when they'd first moved in. By 4pm they had begun cooking preparations. Sarah was making Pot-roasted Chicken; it was a recipe Samantha knew her mother could cook extremely well. After that the pair went outside and cleaned up the front garden. When they had finally finished cleaning Sarah put the food in the oven to cook while Samantha went to shower then Sarah left the kitchen to go shower herself.

…

At 6:30 Dave got home to find the house was spotless. Fairy lights had been put up outside and candles were lit in the hallway and dining room. Warm and inviting background music was playing, and the smell form the kitchen was divine. He walked into the kitchen where Sarah was fussing over some last minute preparations, he kissed her on the cheek and handed a bottle of wine and a bottle of sparkling apple juice for Sam and Samantha. As she was putting the bottles in the fridge Dave admired her outfit. She shooed Dave out of the kitchen to go get ready before he could compliment the black knee length lacy skirt. He passed Samantha's room and saw his daughter putting her hair into a long braid. She poked her tongue out at him and he blew a raspberry at her from the doorway before continuing on to his bedroom to get himself ready.

…

Samantha pulled at the braid to loosen it and tucked some loose curls behind her ear. She found some jeans and a cotton shirt then carefully put on some makeup. Makeup was something she didn't usually bother with unless there was a real reason to wear it. She looked herself over in the mirror and loosened her hair a little more then went to the dining room to find her parents were setting the table. Samantha followed her mother to the kitchen where she checked her teeth in the reflection of the toaster  
>"7:30, they should be here anytime now" Sarah said straightening up.<br>"I'm going to go wait in the living room cause that's where the music is." Samantha moved off to the living room and sat on the couch taking a handful of mixed nuts Sarah had put on the coffee table earlier. She'd decided that tonight she wasn't going to ask Sam about everything she wanted to know. She'd keep the evening pleasant. For their parents' sake.

The doorbell rang and the sounds of greeting echoed to the living room.

She stood up greeting Ron and Judy as they walked with her parents into the room. They went back to their conversation as her eyes fell upon the boy that followed the group in. He was dressed nicely and his hair was styled. He looked good, he looked handsome. Samantha smiled at Sam as he walked over and awkwardly ran a hard through his hair,  
>"Hey, How are you?" this was their first conversation they'd had alone since the accident.<br>"I'm pretty good, healing up pretty quickly too." Sam's smile fell slightly and he looked upset so Samantha quickly moved the conversation from that path  
>"how are you?"<br>"Sore, all the exercising is taking its toll." Sam seamed glad the conversation had turned.  
>"Muscle ache, that's the good kind. What is the bet you have going on at the moment? You mentioned it yesterday when I was with Judy."<br>"My friend Miles bet me one hundred dollars that I couldn't get fitter than him in one month." Sam was smiling as he spoke and Samantha couldn't help but smile back at him. _Wow he has a nice smile._  
>"How will you know you're fitter than him?"<br>"I have to be able to beat his records for push ups, chin ups, 100 meter sprint, double crunches and a few other things, he gave me a list." Samantha's eyes widened as he recited the list,  
>'wow, let me know if you win." Sam chuckled,<br>"Yeah sure thing."

The oven timer interrupted the conversation and the group walked to the dining room. Samantha was just about to sit across from Sam when Sarah called her into the kitchen to help serve the meal. Dave excused himself to go get the drinks leaving the guests to chat to themselves.

…

"Sammy I think she likes you!" Judy whispered to her son reaching across and putting a hand playfully on his shoulder. Sam's head spun to look at her in embarrassment and shock.  
>"Please ma, don't say anything to make it awkward okay? Just shh!" Judy giggled and pinched Sam's cheek,<br>"I have a feeling that you just might like her back." Sam sighed and leaned back into his chair as Ron leaned over to his wife,  
>"Judy stop, I'm sure that's not something Sam wants to talk to you about, especially as we're sitting in his crushes house." The two giggled together and Sam sighed then smiled as the hosts' walked into the dining room holding dishes of food.<p>

Sarah was holding a huge pot which she set on the table and removed the lid. Sam could smell chicken and his mouth began to water. Samantha set down a basket of hot bead rolls and a large bowl almost overflowing with salad. She sat down across from Sam and smiled before offering him the basket. He took a roll out and began to butter it. Dave walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and a bottle of something else.  
>"Sam we weren't sure if you drank alcohol so we bought you and Thaya a bottle of sparkling apple juice to share in case you didn't."<br>Thaya blushed and looked down at her bread. Sam noticing this replied and took the bottle of apple juice that Dave handed him. Sam opened the bottle and filled Samantha's glass before filling his own. She looked up at him filling the glasses and smiled before picking up her glass and taking a sip,  
>"thanks."<br>Sam put the bottle down on the table,  
>"You're welcome, this food looks great."<br>"Yeah the chicken is so good, I helped make it." Sam liked listening to her accent,  
>"I can't wait to try some."<p>

The group filled their plates and conversation began as they began eating.  
>"So Dave why did you all move from Australia?" Ron asked sipping his wine.<br>"My work, I got promoted and Sarah wasn't working at the time so we packed up and moved. So far it's been fantastic."  
>"oh wow, so what do you do exactly?"<br>"I'm a Pharmaceutical Researcher." Dave answered the question then Samantha piped up from across the table,  
>"it wasn't all that great moving. Changing time zones was horrible." Ron looked over to Dave chuckling then looked back to Samantha,<br>"no sacrifice, no victory kiddo." The adults laughed and Sam looked across at Samantha who was laughing with the adults,  
>"old Witwicky motto"<br>"wait seriously? You have a family saying?"  
>"Yeah it's been said for generations."<br>"Wow. That's pretty cool." Sam laughed and they began talking about Australia.

Soon enough Sarah asked Samantha to help her serve to dessert Judy had brought over. She excused herself and followed her mother into the kitchen.

…

"Dinner was so good. They're such an interesting family, they have a family motto!" Samantha babbled as she pulled out a stack of plates and got some dessert spoons together.

Sarah was slicing up the chocolate sponge cake Judy had made. It was triple layered, Sarah admired a person's ability to cook and Judy had great ability.

"I know, our family isn't interesting like that."  
>"They loved hearing about Australia though, I guess we're interesting like that." The two prepared and served the cake which was almost inhaled by the group. Sarah was sure to compliment Judy at her cooking skills which made the woman blush and smile returning the compliment about the chicken Sarah had laboured over earlier that day.<p>

After dessert the adults had settled in the living room. Samantha and Sam found themselves outside sitting on the grass talking. Sam had his legs out straight, crossed over one another and was leaning back on his hands while Samantha was to his right, facing him. She was lying on her stomach, head in her hands and her elbows propping her up. They could hear laugher come from in the house every so often.  
>"Samantha?" Sam looked down at the girl<br>"Thaya, call me Thaya, and yes Sam?" She looked back at him.  
>"Okay, Thaya. Why are your eyes that colour? I hope I'm not being rude asking, I'm just curious" he looked away after speaking.<br>"Oh no it's not rude at all. Well, I was born with a mutation in my genes which changed what would be a light blue iris colour to a very, very dark blue. According to the doctor who studied my eyes it's a harmless mutation but he's doesn't know if it'll be passed on if I have kids." Sam was silent for a moment as he thought about what she said,  
>"cool. First time I saw you I thought you must have been wearing contact lenses." Samantha laughed<br>"most people think that, it does get annoying when people stare at me. It's like, hello? I can see you. I'm not blind you know." The pair laughed and Sam pulled his legs in towards him crossing them and began pulling at some blades of glass next to his foot.

"Saman- Thaya. I need to get this off my chest, I'm really sorry about what happened the other day. I'm really glad you didn't get hurt badly but I'm still so sorry." Samantha, a little surprised from the sudden change of subject looked up at Sam. He was looking down at the grass avoiding eye contact. She wanted to ask Sam all her questions but now she wasn't sure how to word them since Sam had just apologized. She thought for a moment them worded her reply carefully.  
>"It's okay Sam, honestly I'm fine. It was pretty scary at the time but as you said I didn't get badly hurt. I just…I need to ask you something about the accident." Sam finally looked up at her, a mixture of relief and apprehension on his face.<br>"yeah?" Samantha took a breath knowing she was breaking her rule she made earlier that evening.  
>"Well when I walked away after the accident I could hear you talking to someone. Except no one else was there, not even in the car. I want to know who you were talking to." Sam was silent for a while and she waited patiently for his response,<br>"Well…I was talking to someone on the phone." Samantha stared at Sam obviously not buying what he'd just said  
>"I remember what you said. The person you were talking to was going to see someone called Optimus Prime and you wanted to know why they were going without you. But there was no one there Sam! Who were you talking to?" Sam went pale when she mentioned the name. He stood up,<br>"Look Thaya I'm sorry but I just can't say, okay. I need to go, dinner was lovely and I've had a really nice time hanging out with you but I just need you to forget this subject." Samantha stood up and stood in front of Sam,  
>"you hit me with your car it's not something I can just forget about Sam, I think you owe it to me to tell me the truth." He sighed and looked down.<br>"I'm sorry Samantha but I can't" with that he walked around her and walked into the house.

Samantha knew for certain he was hiding something. She could easily tell it was a touchy subject and it was something that Sam was hiding from everyone. She stood outside of a few minutes listening to the guests leave then walked inside and up to the bathroom to wash the makeup off of her face.

While brushing her teeth she looked out the window, she could see into the Witwickys garden. By the light of the moon she saw a figure quickly walking across to the garage. It was Sam. Samantha knew he was up to something. She spat foamy toothpaste into the sink then ran downstairs grabbing her set of keys from the hook next to the door and she snuck out into the night.

…

Sam quietly shut the garage door then walked up to his car and stroked the cool metal,  
>"Bumblebee are you awake?" the lights flashed on and off then the driver's side door opened. Sam got into the car and relaxed into the seat. Bumblebee was not only Sam's guardian but was also his best friend, Sam went to him when he needed someone, now was one of those times.<br>"Bee I'm worried. Samantha's just asked me about the accident. She heard me talking to you when she was walking away. She knows that no one else was around at the time and didn't believe me when I told her I was on the phone. I didn't know what to tell her after that so I just told her to leave it. What do I do Bee?" the boy rubbed his face and sunk further into the seat.  
>"<em>Time to go…somewhere safe….need to talk…face to face." <em>

The engine started and Sam knew Bumblebee also needed to get something off his chest.

…

Samantha had heard the Camaro's engine roar to life when she'd just finished lacing up her roller-blades. The Camaro rolled past her house and she shot out onto street to follow it keeping a safe distance between herself and the car.

She followed the car for 15 minutes and her energy levels were dropping. She'd forgotten to grab a jumper so she was freezing and maintaining a speed to keep up with the car was slowly becoming harder but she pushed on. After another ten gruelling minutes the car turned away from the main roads and down towards some parkland.  
>She saw the car slow down and drive around into some thicker scrub. She slowed down and stopped next to a tree to take off her skates.<p>

With the laces tied together and the skates slung around her neck she ran bare foot away from the road and into the thicker bushland where she saw the car lights through the bushes. Samantha stopped behind a fallen tree log and peered over to the clearing where she saw Sam pacing around in front of the car and talking to himself.  
>"Bumblebee, what do I do? She isn't going to leave it, she wants answers that I can't tell her."<br>_Okay is he crazy, _she thought.  
>Then something frightening happened. The car broke apart and began twisting and changing in an organised chaos of sounds and movements. Samantha's breath left her. The car had just <em>turned <em>into a robot. It crouched down and placed a finger on Sam's shoulder. It seemed to be talking to him. Samantha could hear a radio being tuned in and out of different radio stations again, then she realized it was the _robot. _It was tuning the car radio.  
><em>Sam was talking to his car in the garage, his car's the robot! Holy shit! My cute neighbour has a robot car sitting in his garage!<br>_Samantha was breathing heavily and was pressed up against the log, hidden by the shadows. She pinched herself. The robot stood back up and began to pace, it acted human, showing stress and even worry though its posture.

As she watched Samantha felt her leg begin to cramp so she moved to change into a more comfortable crouching position.  
>Suddenly the robot spun into a defensive stance gently pushing Sam behind him. Lights flooded the shadows Samantha was hidden in and she ducked completely behind the log. The lights moved away from the log and Samantha didn't waste a second. She tore away from the log and ran in the direction she'd come, her shadow came to life as lights hit her and she cried in fear and ran faster knowing it had seen her.<br>There were thunderous footsteps followed by the revving of an angry car engine which to Samantha's increasing fear was getting closer.

She'd almost made it to the road when the car came up next to her then spun around and was blocking her path and facing her. Blinded by the lights she staggered hearing the noises and seeing the movements of it transforming through her blinded vision. It swung a hand out and tossed her. She screamed before the impact of hitting the ground left her breathless and she struggled for air while trying to get up and run again.  
>She'd made it ten steps before she felt something hit the back of her legs and she fell backwards. Samantha screamed when she hit the hood of the Camaro, she rolled onto her stomach and tried to climb over the top of the car but its tires span and it flew off. Samantha clung onto the side mirror and the windscreen wipers screaming as she felt her body slide around on the hood of the Camaro as it quickly swerved around trees angrily driving back to where Sam was.<p>

Samantha's knuckles were white and her eyes were shut tight when the car finally skidded to a halt. She couldn't move out of fear, her breathing was ragged and her body was shaking. The engine revved loudly and angrily. Samantha still didn't move.  
>She heard the noises before she felt the movements. The car was <em>transforming<em> with her still holding onto it! Her eyes finally opened and she let go of the hood when it began bending and changing shape. She tumbled off onto the ground and she whimpered pressing herself into the ground when the giant robot was suddenly looming over her holding a massive yellow and humming cannon only a meter away from her.

_This is a dream. It has to be. _

**A/N: Oh my freaking gosh! The new Transformers movie! Wow oh wow, doors were flying open for my fanfic inspiration, I mean wow. Go watch it. I'm not saying it was brilliant, there were bits I thought could have been better but it has really expanded Transformers, I'm not going to say how as I'll spoil it. **

**But I do understand why the old human characters weren't set into the new movie, I couldn't picture any of them fitting into the storyline, the whole thing just got bigger than them. **

**Go watch it!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Seven: Secrets uncovered**

Bumblebee listened patiently as Sam expressed all his troubles.  
>The boy paced back and forth in front of him, turning when he got to where the shadows met Bumblebee's headlights.<br>"I feel bad Bee, you're an Autobot. You're meant to be out with the others fighting Decepticons and doing what you do best. But all you are doing is staying in my dad's garage guarding me from a Decepticon attack that's pretty unlikely to happen. There hasn't been any Decepticon activity in months. I'm not a target anymore."  
>The boy stopped to rub at his face then continued his rant,<br>"All I want is a normal life Bee, and I can't have that because of all these secrets I have to keep. I can't even get a girlfriend now! And now things are getting more difficult with Samantha living next door. She knows I'm hiding something and she's not going to leave me alone until she finds out what it is. And what lie can I tell her? I've got no alibis. I was lucky enough that she didn't tell her parents the truth about the accident." Sam stopped pacing and faced the car.

Bumblebee transformed and crouched down to place a large digit affectionately on Sam's shoulder.

"_Listen fella…I understand your troubles…but…I can't leave…you're my responsibility…and my friend…You always will be…a target…from what you know, there's never any escape…What I do best…is not…fighting…I'm not a killing machine…I'm sorry but…it's a war…and you're part of it now…there's no chance…for a normal life now." _

Sam wiped a tear from his cheek, hearing what he knew was the truth out loud really hit him hard.  
>"I didn't mean to say you're a killing machine, I'm sorry Bee. I know you hate the war but I also can tell you miss the others. It would be easier for both of us if I didn't have to hide you all the time!" Bumblebee's door wings drooped in sadness and he stood up.<p>

"_I understand that…you want a normal life…I get that you don't want me around no more…but I can't…leave…who's going to protect you when I'm gone?…It would be all on me if you…got hurt." _

Bumblebee hung his head. He was upset with himself for causing Sam's stress and sadness, he felt he was failing his one mission of protecting the boy. He looked back up at Sam then continued.

"_As for the girl…I'm sorry it was…completely my fault…I'm glad that you didn't get…blamed for my mistake…She's the reason…you want a normal life…isn't it?"  
><em>  
>Sam couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with the mech. Bumblebee was right. If he did get attacked and killed Bumblebee would never forgive himself despite it was Sam who was pushing Bumblebee away in the first place.<br>It was true. He was starting to like Samantha regardless of their rocky friendship. He wanted to be normal so he could get close to her but now, with all his secrets, there was no way he could let her in.

"Bumblebee, what do I do? She isn't going to leave it, she wants answers that I can't tell her."

Bumblebee was about to reply when his scanning systems suddenly picked up a signature and his battle computer instantly analysed it as a serious threat.  
>His battle computer kicking in more he spun into a defensive stance, thoroughly scanning the area and gently nudging Sam, who immediately knew what was happening, behind him. His chest lights flooded the scrub searching for the signature. Finding nothing he turned to check where Sam had moved to when he heard footsteps.<br>He turned back and saw a figure running away from behind a log. Battle computer now fully online he took off hearing a cry of fear from the figure when they realized they'd been spotted. His battle computer cut off all unnecessary thoughts and emotions as it processed the best attack course to take.

Precisely calculating possible procedures and outcomes to find the highest success rates his battle computer found the attack course with the highest success rate and sent it to his processors. He transformed revving his engine and driving up next to them before swinging around and cutting them off. They stumbled blinded by his headlights and he transformed then swatted them. They were knocked back several feet and Bumblebee had already transformed when they'd gotten back up to run.

He drove up right behind them and rammed them taking out their feet. They fell back onto his hood where they tried to climb off but Bumblebee spun his tires ripping grass out of the ground and he took off. He drove back to the clearing where Sam was waiting swerving none too gently around trees with the terrified person clinging onto his hood screaming in fear.

Bumblebee skidded to a halt and waited for them to get off his hood. They didn't move so he angrily revved his engine. They still didn't climb off so Bumblebee began to transform with them still clinging onto his hood. They finally let go and tumbled to the ground where Bumblebee crouched over them, one hand on the ground and the other in cannon mode wavering threateningly above them. They whimpered in fear.  
>Bumblebee suddenly heard Sam's voice calling out of the dark<br>"Bumblebee! Stop! Don't hurt her!" He looked up to Sam, who was running out of the dark towards him. He looked back down at who was pinned to the ground shaking in fear and realized who it was.

Samantha.

He could see the girl lying there completely and utterly terrified and he knew she was no threat to Sam but his battle computer had shut down his circuitry that processed emotions and rational thinking. His battle computer was still analysing her as a threat.

A battle computer starts up when a danger or serious threat is recognized.  
>It shuts down circuitry that could weaken a transformer during battle.<br>In small cases it will only shut down the circuitry that processes emotions and rational thought patterns so they can fight ruthlessly and won't falter at a critical moment during battle. But in extreme situations the battle computer can also shut down the entire frame's sensory systems so if the transformer were to have its arm ripped off during a one-on-one brawl it could still fight to the best of its ability without feeling agonising pain from the dismemberment. When the threat or danger is no longer immediate or serious the battle computer will begin to shut down automatically.

Bumblebee crouched over her emotionless, his battle computer had malfunctioned. It wasn't shutting down. He _knew _the girl. He _knew _she was no threat. He _knew _he was terrifying her but he was not processing emotions or rational thoughts and his battle computer was not assessing that the threat was non-existent and wouldn't shut down.

Sam ran up between Bumblebee and Samantha and shoved his cannon away,  
>"Bumblebee! What are you doing?! Stop!" Sam was furious and distressed. He stood there angrily staring down the robot hidden behind the battle mask. A few tense moments went by.<br>Finally Bumblebee began to process small fragments of panic in his circuitry. He was finally processing relief as his battle computer completely shut down.

Sam turned down to Samantha when Bumblebee's stance changed his battle mask slid up. He stood up and backed away retracting his cannon and making noises or surprise, relief and shock before he finally managed to speak.

"_What in the hell is she doing here!" _

Bumblebee stood uncomfortably a few meters away from the girl.  
>"Shut the hell up Bee, I don't know." Sam crouched down next to Samantha and gently touched her arm.<br>"Samantha, are you okay?" The girl sat up, her eyes not leaving Bumblebee's frame. Sam took off his jacket and wrapped it around the girl's shivering shoulders. As he did this Samantha looked at Sam then wrapped her arms around his waist and broke down into tears pressing her face to his chest and clinging to his shirt. He held her in attempt to comfort her.

"_Sam…" _

Sam looked up at Bumblebee,  
>"What the hell was that Bumblebee? You knew she wasn't going to hurt you. Why did you point your cannon at her?! Why did you stand over her so threateningly Bee? That was so not necessary." With Sam's words Bumblebee felt worse and worse. He had to see Ratchet immediately, he needed the medic. He needed to get his battle computer fixed before it caused more damage.<p>

"_Sam…I can explain…sort of…My…systems are failing…we gotta get to the doctor…Ratchet…right away." _

Sam stared at Bumblebee for a few moments and saw the panic and guilt radiating off the mech's frame until he looked back down to Samantha.  
>"What are we going to do about her?" he asked. Bumblebee took a few steps towards Sam and Samantha then knelt down as non-threatening as possible. Samantha looked up from where she'd buried her face in Sam's chest and stared at Bumblebee for a moment. She was still shaking and clinging to Sam but her tears had dried up.<br>"It was going to kill me." Sam only just heard her whisper and Bumblebee's door wings dropped at her words.  
>"Samantha I promise you he won't hurt you. He didn't…realize it was you. He thought you were…a threat." Sam was struggling to structure his sentences without using technical 'transformer' language so she'd understand.<br>"Why did it want to shoot me?" Samantha spoke just above a whisper but her voice sounded dry and hoarse.  
>"It was for intimidation, he wouldn't have fired his weapon. If he had recognised you earlier he wouldn't have acted so viciously. I don't know why he didn't move when he did recognise you though." Sam was very confused and distressed by Bumblebee's violent actions but he wasn't going to make things worse by freaking out and abusing Bumblebee in front of Samantha and creating further panic. He needed to calm Samantha down and figure out what to do about the entire situation.<p>

"_My…circuits are malfunctioning…I need…repairs."_

"So it's actually friendly?" Samantha was now more leaning into Sam than clinging on to him.  
>"Yes, he is my guardian. He was only doing his job of protecting me."<br>"Why does it talk through the radio?"  
>"His vocal systems were damaged in a fight."<br>"Oh." Samantha had calmed down and now just stared at Bumblebee.  
>"Do you promise it won't hurt me?" Sam smiled slightly,<br>"I promise _he _won't hurt you."  
>"He?" she looked over Bumblebee's frame.<br>"His name is Bumblebee."  
>"So it was actually him that I hit when I was roller-skating the other day?"<br>"Yeah, that was him."  
>"You weren't even in the car were you?"<br>"No." Samantha took a long breath as she thought things over.

"_Hey kid…I'm real sorry for all the trouble I caused." _

Bumblebee rubbed at his helm and shrugged slightly. Samantha stood up and put Sam's jacket on properly before taking a few steps towards Bumblebee. He moved forward onto his hands and lowered his head to be at roughly the same height Samantha was. He knew this was a make or break moment of getting some kind of trust her trust.  
>When she standing in front of Bumblebee's face within touching distance she stopped and held her hand out, palm facing towards Bumblebee. She exhaled when he moved forward and her hand touched the top of his head. Her heart was racing and when Bumblebee raised his head to gaze at her she gulped.<br>"You know, you're an absolute asshole for scaring me like that. But I understand you were just doing your job." She said to Bumblebee

"_I really am sorry about what…I did…there's a problem in my…circuits." _

She was silent for a moment then looked over to Sam who had shadowed her over to Bumblebee,  
>"I'm sorry Sam, I really shouldn't have followed you out here tonight." Sam smiled slightly at her,<br>"I guess if you hadn't come out tonight you still would have bugged me and followed me until you got answers." Samantha realized he was right, if she hadn't followed him out tonight she would have kept snooping around until she got answers. She removed her hand from Bumblebee's helm and he stood up.

"_Sam…I need…to see doctor…Ratchet…he will know what to do…it's urgent...we must make haste." _

Sam looked up at Bumblebee then down to Samantha.  
>"I guess we'll take you home now; Bumblebee and I have to go." Samantha turned to face Sam with a glint of anger in her eyes,<br>"like hell I'm going back home right now! I'm going with you." Sam sighed,  
>"I don't thin-"<br>"I've been hit, tossed, chased down, rammed and pinned to the ground by your car holding a cannon to my face! All in one night! And I've also lied to my parents for you. I'm not going back home, I'm going with you Sam." Samantha stood staring Sam down, missing Bumblebee's door wings shake as he silently laughed at Sam. He could tell the girl had a fire within her and knew Sam would have his hands full if he challenged her. Sam sighed in defeat,  
>"fine, get in the car then." He gestured to Bumblebee who transformed and opened his doors for the two.<br>Samantha's eyes widened,  
>"hell no! I'm not getting into that car!" Sam sighed again then walked past her and got into the driver's seat.<br>"If it helps I'm the one driving, not him." Samantha took a few breaths then walked over to the car and got in. She jumped slightly when the door closed itself and she sat rigidity and uncomfortably in the seat as Sam drove off.

They drove in silence until Bumblebee radio voice broke the silence,

"I ain't no pet…of…Sam…sweetheart."

Samantha was stunned and stared at the radio for a moment before breaking out into laughter much to Sam's confusion.

After more driving in silence Samantha turned from looking out the window to talk to Sam.  
>"Does talking to Bumblebee ever get tricky because of his…weird radio voice?" Sam laughed at her description,<br>"it used to be a bit tricky understanding him at times but not as much anymore."  
>"Are there other robots like him?" Sam was silent as he drove,<br>"well I'm not sure I should say…ah screw it, you've already fallen down the rabbit hole. Yes there are others on Earth. That's where we're going. To his…I guess you could call them his brothers."  
>"How many more are there?"<br>"Three that I know of."  
>"Oh cool, am I allowed to know why they're on Earth."<br>"I'm probably not the best person to answer that and Bumblebee wouldn't be able to find the right words using the radio. One of the others might tell you when we get there."  
>"How long before we get there? Wherever <em>there<em> is" Bumblebee answered for Sam,

"_Approximately_…_5 hours and…37 minutes."_

"What are you serious?" Samantha whined,

"_Affirmative."_

Samantha huffed quietly and carefully lay back into the seat ignoring Sam chuckling at her. Long trips weren't really that enjoyable to Samantha. But after a while of conversation Samantha had relaxed into the seat and slowly went to sleep leaving Bumblebee and Sam to talk.  
>"Bumblebee can you take over driving? I really want to get some sleep."<p>

"_Sure thing partner." _

Sam drifted off to sleep leaving Bumblebee to drive and the mech sent a message to the other Autobots of the situation and where they were.  
>He increased his speed and jammed any speed radars that he passed along the way. He hoped they'd arrive in 3 hours tops assuming Samantha didn't wake to see Sam sleeping in the driver's seat and to find they were speeding.<p>

**A/N: This chapter I found pretty hard to write, nothing would flow properly and it was so frustrating and that's why it took a few more days to get finished than previous chapters. Ugh so frustrating, Next chapter I'll being getting back to Megatron. Sorry for any grammar mistakes etc. but I wanted to get this chapter up for all you wonderful readers. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Eight: A forming alliance **

Since discovering the sentient properties of the robot the couple had salvaged they had been working on repairing its broken frame for the last eight days.

After managing to find where they needed to begin repair work and spending half a day just removing layers of armouring the two had discovered the level of engineering and electronics of the robot was well beyond their expertise level. After Rachel spent some time researching robotic vocal systems online she'd learned enough to roughly guess what was wrong with the robots vocal systems and how to fix it. While the two were sitting on the robots chest peering down into the hole they had made in its throat Rachel pointed out what the problem was.

"Okay so this vocal system is much bigger than any of the models I found online, but they're surprisingly similar. Comparing them, this vocal system is basically an updated, much improved and more complicated version of the online models. It's composed of parts that act like our vocal systems do. We have articulators, which are the tongue, lips, teeth, nasal cavity, and a soft palate. And we also have vocal organs which are the lungs and vocal cords. According to what I've researched the models have components that act as articulators and vocal organs." Rachel stopped and skimmed through the information on her phone once more before continuing.

"So what would act as the lungs are cylinders which have valves and some other bits and pieces attached to them to create airflow. I'm assuming the cylinders are lower down in the robots frame, probably under where we're sitting. Mechanic vocal cords are made from an artificial glottis and they change pitch when a ball screw pulls it side to side or by pushing and opening the artificial glottis. The glottis is made from rubber; in the model they'd used a super-low hard rubber, tensile strength. You see this opening here?" Rachel pointed to the top of a cylinder about as wide as her hand which continued down into the robots chest.

"This is the top of the cylinder and all this burnt black crap at the top is the rubber vocal cord thing. It stretches over the cylinder like a lid and then at the top of the rubber it clamps close together really tight like when you purse your lips. We need to replace the rubber so write that down. And we'll also need to repair this other cylinder." Rachel moved her hand over a wider cylinder that was ripped and torn and sat above where the vocal cord was meant to be.

"This wider cylinder is meant to come down and attach to the lower cylinder and protect the vocal cords and channel noises." Timsy made some measurements and wrote down what they'd need on the back of his hand and up his arm.

"The articulators are up it the robots head and mouth, so once we've repaired here we'll move up to the articulators." Rachel stood up and looked around at the junk piles then down at Timsy.  
>"Do we have anything useable handy?" Timsy jumped down off the robot and walked over to a pile and pulled out a metal cylinder, measured it and walked back over to Rachel smiling.<br>"This should work fine but I'll have to drive into town to find some rubber." Rachel clambered down and scratched at her still bandaged arm,  
>"Okay, you go do that and I'll finish fixing its foot."<p>

Timsy jumped into his dad's tow truck and drove off leaving a trail of dust behind him. Rachel walked over to the robot's foot and began finishing the repairs they'd begun when they first brought back the robot from the dam.

As she worked her thoughts trailed back to memories of her uncle teaching her about mechanics. He'd taken care of her, her whole life. Not remembering her parents at all was something she appreciated, she'd seen photos of them before they'd died but she had no sentimental feelings about them so she didn't bother with keeping the photos of them. They'd died in a building collapse when she was about six months old and her father's brother took her in and grew to love her as his own. He'd been teaching her about mechanics since she was old enough to hold a spanner and she loved it.  
>Timsy on the other hand knew more about electronics than he did about mechanics. Rachel only knew basic circuitry and not well enough to be confident with it. He'd learnt through working in his bedroom as a kid and moving onto specialized education of the subject when he was old enough.<p>

Rachel had grown up on the other side of town with her uncle but she'd basically moved into Timsy's house. Her uncle didn't mind as he liked Timsy and saw that he was a "level-headed guy" as he had once put it.

Timsy had grown up with his parents in Ohio but moved to his grandparents place when he found out his dad had been addicted to drugs and had been stealing money to feed his addiction. When Timsy had told Rachel of why he'd moved he had said that he loved his parents but wanted nothing to do with that kind of lifestyle. This was one of the reason's Rachel's uncle respected Timsy so much.

…

Megatron had shut down his entire frame sensory systems when the two humans had begun dismantling his armour. He didn't particularly enjoy them climbing around on his frame but as the days went on and he saw how hard they were working he began to not mind them.

He listened to the female talk her way around his vocal systems. She was mostly correct about how it worked aside from a few things but what she was describing was a very basic vocal system which would only be compatible with his frame because humans had had the chance to study Transformers when the Autobots befriended them. Vocal systems were one of the components studied but the humans' attempts to recreate transformer vocal systems failed until the humans based the models off their own vocal systems.

If the two were successful and their earth material were sturdy enough he would hopefully be able to communicate just enough for them fix repair the rest of his frame and to refuel him.

…

Timsy strolled through the hardware store with his hands in his pockets up to the front counter. The cashier looked up from his computer screen and smiled at him,  
>"'Allo Timsy mate, what can I do for you today?"<br>"Hey Paul, I'm looking for a rubber tubing, like this here." Timsy slid a blueprint drawing he'd drawn earlier across the counter top to the cashier. He picked it up and examined it,  
>"Ah I see, what are you and your girlfriend working at the moment then?"<br>"We're attempting to make our own mechanic vocal system, we need the rubber to make a synthetic vocal cord." Paul looked the blueprint over once more,  
>"sounds complicated. I think I might have something you can use in the back." He walked Timsy to the backroom of the shop and after some hunting around and a few quick custom alterations Timsy had the exact piece needed sitting in this truck as he paid Paul.<br>"You two have fun, please come back if you need any more materials!" Paul called from the shop door.  
>"Will do, thanks mate!" Timsy called back to him as he got in his truck. He was excited about this project and couldn't believe what Rachel had found until he had seen it for himself. When she'd discovered that it was alive he couldn't contain his excitement. He and Rachel had spent hours discussing who they thought had made it and more importantly who and dumped it in the dam! He sped back to the farm to find Rachel hosing down more of the robots mud crusted inner workings.<p>

…

Rachel and Timsy had worked for hours fixing the vocal systems. It was night by the time they had reached the final stages and they were working under flood lights that had been set up a few days ago. When Timsy had finished welding the cylinders together he stood up and cleared scrap metal off the robots frame. The couple reattached the layers of armouring then climbed off the robot and stood looking at it with hope.  
>"Please work, please work. Please" Rachel looked into its glowing eyes and felt as if it was looking straight back into hers.<p>

After a few moments of silence the two heard components starting up and the robot coughed. Dust sprayed out of his mouth and it began coughing and spluttering until no more dust or dirt was coming out of its mouth. Finally they heard it groan and grunt as its vocal systems fully on lined.  
>Timsy could not believe what he was seeing, it was actually working. Their repair work on the robot, whose systems were so advanced he'd never seen anything like it, was actually working. His excitement heightened as it began to speak.<p>

"I haw is rocken." It growled a little and continued,

"Six I haw." The robot grunted again and Rachel realized what was wrong before Timsy did and she ran forward and looked over the robots jaw. It was broken, the metal was busted and bent in the wrong direction.  
>"Timsy its jaw is broken so it can't pronounce words right, come on we have to fix it!" She turned excitedly and began carrying tools around to his head.<p>

Soon after beginning their work Timsy realised the damage was pretty big and they'd need to completely remove the jaw, fix it then reattach it. Rachel let him get on with removing the busted jaw as she went into the house to make two very strong cups of coffee.

When she came back out Rachel looked where the robots jaw had once been and saw what she assumed what the rest of the vocal systems.  
>"These must be the articulators. Wow this is much more complicated. I'm glad none of this is damaged.<br>"We just have to make sure the jaw is reconnected correctly otherwise it still won't be able to pronounce words right." Timsy worked wrist deep on the inner working of the jaw. Rachel continued examining the articulators. The tongue was made of a rubber strip stretched over what looked like two 3-DOF-pantograph mechanisms, the teeth were metal fangs both on the top and bottom jaw and the lips she realized were just thin metal plates.

Rachel could see a metal looking valve at the back of the robots throat which she guessed was the soft palate and she knew that the nasal cavity would be behind that valve and connected to its nostrils. She moved down to help Timsy after her close examination and they worked for a few more hours until the jaw was repaired. They decided to get some sleep before reattaching it to the robot as neither of them could keep their eyes open. Timsy had walked over to a fence where a tap was and washed off his hands and face as Rachel cleared up their work mess. When she finished she walked over to the tap to wash off the grease and oil. The cold water shocked her awake.

Rachel walked over to Timsy as he stood in the light of the sunrise looking out over the hills. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Hey you" he turned kissed her temple,  
>"Hey beautiful." They stood for a moment before Timsy turned around, picked up Rachel and carried her over to the couch where they lay down together, wrapped up in each other's arms and Timsy was resting his head on Rachel chest. As Rachel slowly stroking his hair she thought back to when they first met.<p>

She first laid eyes on Timsy only eight months ago in the main street of the little town they both lived in. It was a cold windy day and Rachel was out shopping for her uncle. She was loading all the groceries into her car when a particularly strong and sharp gust of wind ripped her beanie right off her head and took off with it. She slammed the car boot shut and began chasing it down the street. The wind playfully whipped it around along the ground with dry leaves and twigs much to her embarrassment. When the wind finally died down she caught up with her beanie and bent to pick it up only to have a strange pair of hands reach down and get it before she did. Rachel quickly straightened and found herself looking up into the greenest eyes she'd ever seen.  
>"Is this yours?"<br>"Y-yes, thanks." Rachel smiled at she took the beanie, picked off some twigs and leaves then put it back on. The green eyed boy smiled at her.  
>"You're welcome, I'm Timsy by the way."<br>"Nice to meet you, I'm Rachel." She looked at the boy. He was slightly taller than her, had broad shoulders, stubble over his jawline and black chin length hair.  
>He had insisted on walking her back to her car and by the time she was sitting back in the driver's seat he'd asked for her number. Rachel had taken out a permanent marker from the glove box and wrote her number across his hand. He smiled looking at the number.<br>"Thanks, I'll call you." With that he walked away from the car so she could drive off.

Rachel looked down at Timsy and smiled, he looked back up at her,  
>"What?"<br>"Just thinking of when we first met."  
>"Oh, you were so beautiful. All confused when I picked up your beanie before you did. You still are so beautiful with your long wavy brown hair and brown eyes, and you prefect lips and perfect body. Even your injuries are perfect."<p>

His hand lightly brushed over her bandages. Her cut wasn't too deep but she didn't want to risk it getting infected so she kept it bandaged and cleaned.  
>Rachel kissed Timsy's forehead and hugged him tighter to her. They both drifted off to sleep on the couch and slept peacefully in each other arms for the day.<p>

The couple woke up mid-afternoon and cooked up a huge afternoon breakfast before beginning to reattach the jaw of the robot. Once it was back in place Rachel and Timsy stood back and waited for the robot to speak. Its eyes flicked from face to face then it moved its jaw experimentally before finally speaking,

"I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. Thank you both for repairing my vocal systems but I am still seriously injured and I am very low on energon levels."

Timsy and Rachel both stood with their mouths hanging open as he spoke. When he finished Rachel found her voice.  
>"I'm Rachel and this is Timsy. What's energon?"<p>

"Energon is the fuel us Transformers need in order to function. Without it our frames cannot function. I'm going to need more energon very soon, I'm running on my backup supplies and I'm very low on those stores as it is."

"Where do we get this energon from?" Timsy asked. Megatron's eyes flicked him,

"That is something I'll explain to you later, when I am fully repaired. But for now I need your assistance to repair the damage I received from an ambush by the Autobots." Megatron spat the name.  
>"Ambush? Who are the Autobots?" Megatron vented then recalled the day Starscream betrayed him as he answered Rachel's question.<p>

"The Autobots are other Transformers like me, we come from the planet Cybertron-"

"Whoa! Wait, hold on. You come from another planet?!" Timsy cried. He was gobsmacked.

"Yes." Megatron growled as Timsy,

"As I was saying, The Decepticons and Autobots are at war. A war which has lasted millions of years and destroyed our home planet, our race came to Earth by accident. There was an inflight battle and we crash-landed on Earth some years ago and since then we have not had the resources to return and rebuild Cybertron.  
>I was ambushed by the Autobots two Earth years ago. One of my soldiers, Starscream, a betraying fool who has always wanted to over throw me and lead the Decepticons, led me to an area of land where he knew the Autobots were residing. He claimed there was energon there. When I was attacked he fled leaving me to be slaughtered by the Autobots. I barely escaped and I know that Starscream has taken my rank and is leading the Decepticons and none of them know I am alive. It is of the most importance that I find my soldiers and offline that treacherous traitor Starscream for once and for all! Rachel, Timsy I need your help. If you do help me I will reward you both greatly for your efforts and time."<p>

Rachel and Timsy were quiet for a moment then Timsy looked Megatron dead in the eye,  
>"We will repair you, we can help you find energon and we can provide you a place to stay. But what do you need of us after we've done all this?"<p>

"I need you to help me defeat the Autobots so I can take my Decepticon soldiers back to Cybertron and rebuild the planet. If you help me with this to the best of your ability I will reward you both greatly."

Timsy looked at Rachel,  
>"I think we should." She looked back at him,<br>"I'm with you no matter what." Megatron smiled at the pair.

"Excellent."

…

Megatron waited patiently as the two repaired and re-attached his jaw. Once it was connected properly he on lined his vocal systems once more and he noticed the humans had managed some good repair work. The earth materials they used felt fine so he opened his mouth to speak to really test them.

""I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. Thank you both for repairing my vocal systems but I am still seriously injured and I am very low on energon levels."

The first thing Megatron noticed was how different his voice sounded. It used to be higher and smoother but now it was low and gravelly.  
>The pair stood with their mouths hanging open until the female spoke,<p>

"I'm Rachel and this is Timsy." She gestured to the male standing next to her and Megatron did not bother to say he already knew their names.

"Um, what is energon?"

"Energon is the fuel us Transformers need in order to function. Without it our frames cannot function. I'm going to need more energon very soon I'm running on my backup supplies and I'm very low on those stores as it is."

"Where do we get this energon from?" Timsy asked. Megatron looked the male over. Finding energon on earth would be a lengthy task and he needed to be repaired first before he could direct them to finding some.

"That is something I'll explain to you later, when I am fully repaired. But for now I need your assistance to repair the damage I received from an ambush by the Autobots" Megatron spat the name. He hated them down to every last wire in his frame.

"Ambush? Who are the Autobots?" He vented his cooling systems before answering.

"The Autobots are other Transformers like me, we come from the planet Cybertron-"

"Whoa! Wait, hold on. You come from another planet?!" Timsy cried.

"Yes." Megatron growled aggravated at the lack of respect the human showed towards him.

"As I was saying, The Decepticons and Autobots are at war. A war which has lasted millions of years and destroyed our home planet, our race came to Earth by accident. There was an inflight battle and we crash-landed on Earth some years ago and since then we have not had the resources to return and rebuild Cybertron.

I was ambushed by the Autobots two Earth years ago. One of my soldiers, Starscream, a betraying fool who has always wanted to over throw me and lead the Decepticons, led me to an area of land where he knew the Autobots were residing. He claimed there was energon there. When I was attacked he fled leaving me to be slaughtered by the Autobots. I barely escaped and I know that Starscream has taken my rank and is leading the Decepticons and none of them know I am alive. It is of the most importance that I find my soldiers and offline that treacherous traitor Starscream for once and for all! Rachel, Timsy I need your help. If you do help me I will reward you both greatly for your efforts and time."

He kept the explanations of everything vague. He did not expect the humans to pick up on this as he could see that their processors were already spinning at everything they'd just been told. Timsy looked at Megatron dead in the optic.

"We will repair you, we can help you find energon and we can provide you a place to stay. But what do you need of us after we've done all this?"

Megatron planned to use the humans as agents he could get into the Autobot base and feed him Intel that he could use to kill the Autobots. Once the Autobots were out of the way he could begin to take over Earth and make it his new Cybertron, rich with fuels that the old Cybertron had become depleted of during the war.

"I need you to help me defeat the Autobots so I can take my Decepticon soldiers back to Cybertron and rebuild the planet. If you help me with this to the best of your ability I will reward you both greatly."

The humans looked at each other and had quick words,

"I think we should."

"I'm with you no matter what."

Megatron smiled when he heard the words he wanted to hear,

"Excellent."

**A/N: A big thank you to all the people that have reviewed and have favourited my story. It's so good to know that people like what I'm writing. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Nine: Down the rabbit hole **

The Autobots gathered inside one of the Hangars of the temporary NEST base in Nevada. The NEST team was on their way back to Diego Garcia after taking out a Decepticon they had been tracking around the state. They were currently residing in an old air force base used for storing aircrafts.

Ratchet was the last to arrive to the small gathering. He transformed, greeted Optimus then walked over to Ironhide, who stood leaning heavily on one leg. He walked behind Ironhide and put his hands on the warrior's shoulders and pushed him down into a sitting position on the ground. Ironhide looked up at Ratchet and huffed in annoyance but the medic growled at him, crouched down and began removing armour before beginning more repairs the warrior's injured leg.  
>"That damn Decepti-creep snuck up on me." Ironhide growled from where sat. Ratchet snorted as he crouched over Ironhide's leg,<br>"You're lucky it was only a small Decepticon. Sure you weren't busy thinking about Chromia? You looked distracted during that last mission and I know no one was speaking on the comlink." Ironhide grumbled at Ratchet and the medic laughed at his slight embarrassment.  
>"Frag off Ratchet."<p>

Ratchet continued repairing Ironhide's injury as Optimus began their unplanned meeting.  
>"Autobots, only half an hour ago Bumblebee sent a message through the comlink. He and Sam are on their way here with another human. Her name is Samantha Jerold. According to Bumblebee's message Samantha and her parents are new occupants of the house next door to Sam."<p>

"Is she a pretender?" Ironhide asked before he winced and growled at Ratchet who snarled at him to shut down his sensory systems properly. Optimus ignored Ratchet's medical instruction towards Ironhide and answered the question,

"No, Bumblebee has completed a full background check on the family and they are no threat to the Witwickys. However she was in an accident involving Bumblebee. According to him it was non-life threatening but this accident made her become suspicious of Sam. She believed he was hiding something. From what Bumblebee has observed this girl is very determined and driven but has become inquisitive of Sam's affairs.  
>Earlier tonight she had followed Sam driving with Bumblebee. She was hoping to find out what the boy was hiding. While she was spying on Sam she saw Bumblebee transform. His scanners didn't pick up her signature until she'd seen him.<br>"Oh slag. I imagine she ran?" Ratchet stopped his repairs and looked up at Optimus giving the leader his full attention.  
>"Yes she did, but there was more in Bumblebee message, his battle computer is malfunctioning. Ratchet you're going to need to start immediate repairs when he arrives."<br>Ratchet's facial plates fell and he groaned,

"Of all the slagging components to malfunction it had to be his fragging battle computer! They are the worst to repair. Oh frag it!" He turned back to Ironhide's leg and continued his repair work. Ironhide glared at Optimus with one optic twitching each time the medic ripped at his wirings and touched a sensory nerve ending.  
>Optimus hid a smile,<p>

"Easy Ratchet. Because of his malfunctioning battle computer Samantha's first encounter with our kind was not a pleasant one so when she arrives there will not be any kind of threatening behaviour. We want peace between the humans whether it is a whole country or just one human child so you _will _understand when I say any kind of behaviour that may scare her will be intolerable." Optimus made his words stern and low.

"Because Bumblebee needs urgent repairs he and Sam had decided to come straight here however Samantha refused to be taken back to her home so Sam had no other option but to bring her with him and Bumblebee.  
>Sam has told her a few things about us but he has not said enough for her to completely understand why we are here, this is an opportunity for us to gain the trust of an individual human civilian, a rare opportunity due to the request of the American Government that our existence remain a secret. We need to her understand we are on Earth to protect the human race.<br>They will arrive in about three to four hours. I expect you all here when they arrive."

Optimus bid them farewell then walked out of the hangar to go alert the soldiers of the guests that were soon to arrive.

Ratchet finished up the work on Ironhide's leg,  
>"This repair work is only temporary, tomorrow come to the medical bay and I'll finalize the repairs." Ratchet reattached the armour he'd removed then stood and helped Ironhide to his feet.<br>"I swear getting repaired is worse than getting the injury."  
>"Just be happy I'm still here to repair you."<br>"Come on Ratch, you're not that old yet."  
>"I'm older than you pup." Ironhide laughed at Ratchet, it was true. He still remembered running around the medic's ankles as a youngling.<p>

The two walked out of the hangar, bid a farewell then went their separate ways.

Ratchet went to his medical bay and began preparation for repairing a damaged battle computer. He grumbled to himself, fixing a battle computer was complicated.  
>Battle computers ran on so many fine lines between things that if the scale were to be tipped and the battle computer began to malfunction, finding the damaged part was a difficult and slow process as there were so many things that could have gone wrong with it.<br>He remembered the days back on Cybertron when battle computers were made industrially and a Transformer could get a whole new one installed if the other one were to malfunction. But now that they were on Earth the Autobots had to take extra good care of their frames because spare parts were so scarce.

But of course none of them got it through their lagging processors how important regular maintenance was and still went months at a time without upholding proper or regular care of their frames.  
>"Which means more work for me! The errant fools" he growled moving tools from place to place in the medical bay.<p>

…

Samantha woke up to find the car seat she was sitting in had reclined into a more comfortable position. She looked over at the clock on the dashboard. 4 Am. She sat up running her hands over her messy and tangled hair, she pulled out a twig that was ensnarled in her locks and threw it on the floor. The seat moved up to its normal position and Samantha looked over to Sam who was cracking his neck.  
>"Morning Thaya, sleep okay?"<br>"As well as possible during transit. Where are we?"  
>"Nevada. How close are we to the base Bumblebee?"<p>

"_I'd say about fifteen minutes, give or take."_

"So not too far" Sam added. He ran his hands over the steering wheel and settled back into his seat. Samantha looked out her window into the early morning darkness and thought of what had happened only hours before, she began to piece everything together.

Bumblebee was Sam's car, and also a giant alien robot. Bumblebee was his guardian, and Bumblebee was terrifying when he was angry. It was Bumblebee that she ran into while roller skating, Sam had nothing to do with that.  
>It was Bumblebee he was speaking to after the accident and that morning in the garage. It was Bumblebee that Sam was hiding from the world. She understood why Sam got so stressed and on edge quickly and why he didn't really open up about much stuff. <em>Poor guy, what a secret to keep. Sure it would have been amazing at first but wow, what a burden, <em>she thought.

The car suddenly slowing down and turning down a narrow road surrounded by woods distracted her. After a few minutes they turned a corner and the woods cleared and Samantha could see the faint outline of buildings in the distance and flood lights lighting up a large gate they stopped at.

Soldiers stood at each side and Samantha looked down at her hands not wanting to make eye contact with them. There was a moment of silence before one of the soldiers called out something and the gate opened. Bumblebee rolled forward and continued on and drove toward the buildings.

A sliding door to what Samantha realized was a hangar opened and they drove straight into it and stopped. Sam got out the car immediately but Samantha carefully looked around the old and weather worn storage place before she got out. Bumblebee transformed and looked around at the well-lit hangar,

"_What a place…piece of crap if you ask me." _

"Oh shut up Bumblebee, it's a temporary base." Samantha saw Bumblebee turned around to see who spoke. His door wings perked up and he practically bounced out of the hangar into the night to greet them.

Samantha's stomach clenched when she saw Bumblebee return but with another robot by his side. This one was black, covered in weapons and had much broader shoulders. She stood dead still and breathed slowly, the weapons on the black robot were much bigger than Bumblebee's cannon. The black robot noticed Sam and greeted him cheerfully,  
>"Sam! Good to see you, you little brat. Getting up to trouble I hear." The robot knelt down and Sam reached up and patted its arm,<br>"Good to see you too Ironhide, um well, Bumblebee needs to see Ratchet pretty urgently." Ironhide chuckled and stood up.  
>"Yes I've heard our young scout needs me to repair him. A battle computer malfunction, of all the things…" Another robot walked in and up to Bumblebee whose door wings moved to an almost nervous position. The brighter yellow robot put a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder and spoke in a warmer voice<br>"It is good to see you Bumblebee." The scout perked up and placed his hand on the medic's shoulder in return.

Samantha had almost stopped breathing at the sudden amount of robots in the room. They were just so _big_. She looked at the hangar door and seriously considered making a run for it. Going back home seemed like a much better idea now that she was staring up at the metal giants. _Why didn't I just let them take me home?_ She almost said aloud.

"Ratchet!" Sam called in greeting and the medic looked down,  
>"Hello Sam, You're looking healthier. My scans are reading an increase of muscle mass. Have you been exercising?" Sam laughed and shrugged,<br>"Yeah a bit."  
>"Good, you humans don't take your health seriously enough." Samantha almost snorted but kept quiet and still, she couldn't tell if everyone was choosing to ignore her or if they actually hadn't noticed her presence yet.<p>

"Where's Optimus?" Sam asked and Ironhide answered,  
>"He should be here soon, I don't know what's keeping him."<br>"Calm down Ironhide, I'm sorry I am late." A voice drifted in from outside followed by hands down the biggest robot of the entire group. Samantha felt herself moving towards the far wall. It was _huge_, slightly ducking its head to walk in. The blue and red robot crouched down to Sam,  
>"It is good to see you again Samuel."<br>"You too Optimus," the massive robot stood up and turned to greet Bumblebee. Sam noticed how far Samantha had moved from the group so he walked over to her.

"It's a lot to take in, trust me I know." Samantha just stared at them in fear.  
>"I don't trust them." When she said this every single robot turned and looked at her. Samantha went pale and found herself clinging to Sam's arm. He turned to face the robots.<br>"Guys, this is Samantha, my neighbour."

Samantha stepped back when Optimus crouched down in front of her, leaving a few meters of space between them.  
>"Greetings Samantha, I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. This is Ratchet our medical officer" He gestured to the yellow medic who walked around Optimus and stood to the left of him.<br>"This is our weapons specialist, Ironhide" the black robot walked up and stood on the other side.  
>"And you've already met Sam's guardian Bumblebee, although I gather it was not pleasant." The smaller yellow robot walked up and stood next to Ironhide.<br>"H-hi, no it wasn't pleasant, it was terrifying." Samantha managed to say. Despite the fact she had still gotten into the car she didn't trust Bumblebee at all.  
>"I am sorry to hear this. I have been told that Bumblebee's actions were caused due to a malfunction in his circuitry."<p>

"I'll repair him as soon as possible Prime." Ratchet said looking across the circle to Bumblebee.  
>"Good, we can't risk repeating what happened to Samantha with anyone else." Optimus turned his attention back to Samantha,<br>"I apologise on behalf of my scout and also as leader of the Autobots. But I must ask, apart from what you encountered with Bumblebee, why do you not trust us?"

Samantha was silent for a moment as she looked up at the robot.  
>"Because I have no reason to," Optimus answered without a pause<br>"You also have no reason to not trust us."  
>"Apart from what happened with Bumblebee, I guess not."<p>

Optimus Prime studied Samantha for a moment then nodded and continued,  
>"I must ask that everything you've seen and everything you've learnt of about us you must keep a secret. If you don't the human government will arrest you, and please know I do not mean that in any threatening sense." Samantha was silent for a moment,<br>"Wait, the _human_ government. You're working for the American government?"  
>"<em>with <em>them." The leader was sure to place gentle but stern emphasis on the fact they were not controlled by the human government. Samantha laughed breathlessly,  
>"holy crap, back home we used to joke about stuff like this. Aliens involved with the government, we just never imagined they'd be <em>robots.<em>"

"We are not just mere robots, we Autonomous Robotic Organisms. We are from the planet Cybertron." Hearing Optimus Prime say where they were from took away the giddiness Samantha was feeling. The words were like icy water hitting her face. They were _aliens_. Giant alien Autonomous Robotic Organisms. Optimus continued,  
>"Our home planet of Cybertron is now nothing more than waste land due to a civil war that has raged between the Autobots and our foes the Decepticons and that war continues to this day. We crash landed on Earth a few years ago during an inflight battle. The Decepticons saw that this planet is rich in recourses that they could use to re-build Cybertron. So we stayed to protect the Earth and its inhabitants."<br>"So humans then."  
>"Yes. One battle made the humans aware of our existence and since then we have been working with the American Government to protect Earth from the Decepticons."<p>

Samantha was silent for a moment,  
>"I won't tell anyone of what I've heard or your existence. If I did anyway I'd be looked up in a mad house for sure." Sam chuckled,<br>"I've had that thought more than once."

"So how did you get Bumblebee as a guardian?" Optimus Prime answered for Sam,  
>"He was one of the humans that became aware of our existence during the battle. We know for certain that the Decepticons see him as a target for information about us. Bumblebee protects Sam."<br>"Don't I know it" Samantha muttered looking at Bumblebee.

She understood he was doing his job but she honestly thought she was going to be killed when she was lying on the ground pinned there by a massive humming cannon. She respected him but didn't trust him. Yet.  
>She knew she'd be willing to change her mind if he proved himself.<p>

"I must ask you Samantha, why did you refuse going back home after you'd seen Bumblebee?" Samantha was silent as she thought the question through. She wasn't entirely sure herself.  
>"I guess I was in shock. My whole world just had doors and windows blown open after seeing Bumblebee. Before today I did believe there were aliens but I'd always thought they'd be…organic not mechanic! I had to change and re-evaluate the way I saw the universe. So going back home after something like that, I would have had a panic attack or something and the fact I thought I was going to die. Being alone didn't seem like a good idea and the only other option was to stay with Sam. So I did."<p>

The robots were silent as she spoke and Sam completely understood where she was coming from. He didn't blame her for anything that had happened that night. Except for following him in the first place.

"Understood, since you are travelling with Sam and Bumblebee I'm sorry to say but you cannot leave until they do. They will be staying here until Bumblebee is fully repaired." Optimus said to the girl.  
>"How long will that be?" Ratchet answered her question,<br>"It depends on what's frying the little fragger's processors. But it could be anything from hours to days."  
>"But what about my parents? If they wake up to find that I'm gone they'll freak out. What about yours Sam?"<br>"My parents know about Bumblebee, if they wake up to find us both gone they don't get too worried as long as I text them every so often."  
>"So I should text mine? What should I say? What <em>can<em> I say?" Sam was silent for a moment then went slightly red,  
>"Well I have an idea but you might not like it cause, well, our parents will probably think we're some kind of item." Samantha stared at Sam. <em>Okay, he's not kidding. That could make everything at home really awkward when our parents talk and that'll probably make everything between me and him super awkward. Oh wow this is crappy. <em>  
>"Um... yeah, whatever your plan is just do it, and I'm sorry in advance for anything my parents say to you. They like to intentionally make the conversation incredibly awkward."<br>"Likewise, my mom is fantastic for that." Sam pulled out his phone and typed away for a few moments then put it back into his pocket. Then looked up to the Autobots.  
>"Now what?"<p>

Ratchet pulled out a wrench from his subspace with a glint in his optics. They were locked on to Bumblebee.  
>"It's time for repairs. And a check-up."<p>

Bumblebee almost took the hangar door off the wall in his sprinting retreat from the wrench throwing medic.

Sam, Ironhide and Optimus all laughed at the medic running out of the hanger into the early morning light after the little yellow scout. Samantha stared at the door,  
>"what, is he planning to dismantle him or something?" Ironhide answered between chuckles,<br>"he's a grouchy old medic, and hates it when we don't take care of our frames. I have a feeling Bumblebee has been slacking off with his general maintenance."  
>"Oh that poor slagger's going to have his ear chewed off." Optimus chuckled finally becoming accustomed to using human terms.<p>

He turned down to Sam and Samantha,  
>"I imagine you two must be hungry, I'll take you to the cafeteria. There will be food you can eat there."<p>

He transformed into a truck, Sam jumped right in but Samantha stood for a moment staring at the Semi. She started slowly walking over to the door. _I have no reason not to trust them. _She repeated the thought as they drove out of the hangar towards a new building.  
>A thought hit her.<br>"These soldiers, do they know we're here?" Optimus answered though the speakers,  
>"Yes, they're part of our team and they have been alerted there are visitors."<br>"Oh, good." Samantha didn't sound very reassured.


	10. Chapter 10

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Ten: ****Success and failure **

Rachel groaned getting up and dusting the dirt off her back. She looked at Megatron in annoyance, it had been a day since she and Timsy had fixed his vocal systems and they were now fixing his shoulders and arms after he had instructed them to.  
>Earlier that morning Timsy had gone out of town to find some materials they needed to fix Megatron that weren't available in town so Rachel had to continue his work on the electronic mechanisms in Megatron's shoulder. She wasn't confident with working on the electronics but Megatron had literally ordered that she do it because he didn't want to waste time waiting for Timsy to return with the spare parts. That was the most aggressive either of them had seen Megatron. Yet.<p>

A small electric shock had zapped her hand and scared the hell out of Rachel which made her fall off Megatron's chest onto the ground. Megatron watched her get up with a twitching optic,

"I said do not connect the cable to the servo motor until you had connected the red plug to its socket Rachel." He said sighing at her human tendency of making mistakes and learning from them, a time wasting method of learning compared to how Transformers learnt.

"I did connect the damn cable to the servo motor! It's not my fault you can't give proper instructions for your own repairs." Rachel replied climbing back up to Megatron's shoulder. She was upset at not being skilled enough with electronics this advanced and having Megatron snarl and snipe at very slip up she made was really getting to her.

"Human you wear at my patience. Did you connect the little green and gold resistor the right way up before connecting the red plug to its socket?"  
>Rachel looked down at the electronic systems in his shoulder, she looked at the resistor she'd installed earlier and sure enough, it was the wrong way up. She sighed disappointed in herself, not for the first time.<p>

"No." Megatron vented his cooling systems,

"Then reinstall it the right way up. Once you've done that you can connect the cable to the motor servo." Rachel followed his instruction and she looked at her work.

"Well everything seems to be in place. I'll put the armour back on then you can test my work."

"Oh I can't wait" Megatron replied sarcastically, Rachel glared at him.  
>"Look you know I'm rubbish at electronic systems but it was you who <em>ordered <em>me to repair you anyway. Sorry that we only have '_primitive earth tools' _and that I keep screwing up so often but at least I haven't given up. Stop being such a whiny little pain and be thankful that I'm still repairing you okay!" Megatron let out a long growl.  
>"You dare call me a whiny little pain! I could crush you."<br>"Not in this state you can't so shut up." Rachel huffed and began reattaching the armour.

Megatron was irritated that the girl didn't respect him. It was out of fear that many respected him so much but this girl had no reason to fear him which was something Megatron was not accustomed to. It was unusual to see a single human fight back in his experience they usually just became submissive.

She reattached the last piece of armour and heard the hum of Megatron's electronic components starting up. She looked down at his right hand and saw his fingers begin to twitch.

"My repair work, worked! Can you fully move your fingers?"  
>"In time I'll be able to move them fully, along with my arm and shoulder assuming there are no other damaged parts within my arm or shoulder. I'm slowly starting up each electronic, hydraulic and mechanic component individually to make sure everything is running in proper order. If it is successful I will be able to help with repairing the rest of my frame."<p>

Rachel was still smiling at her success of repairing his arm.  
>"That'll be handy. With you helping we can get you fixed sooner too."<p>

"I can only hope, immobility is something I've had quite enough of in my lifetime."

…

As Rachel rested on the couch with her feet up on a plastic crate she watched Megatron move his arm around. He was checking his elbow and shoulder movement, testing the fluency and smoothness of the actions making sure everything was in correct order. It had been about an hour since his fingers had first twitched and Rachel could see Megatron's mood had lifted considerably despite the fact only his arm was mobile.

"Megatron can I ask you something about your frame?" Optics flicked over and stared at her.

"Yes?"

"I know you can see, hear and touch but do you have a sense of smell and taste?" Megatron had to admit it was a fair question, but unusual for a human to ask. Transformers were perceived as just drone like robots to most humans without emotion or sense.

"Yes my species do have a sense of smell and taste much like yours do but it's very complicated and I will not be surprised if you do not understand how our frames work."

"I'm still interested, could you try and explain it to me?"

"Well I'll start with our sense of smell as it takes place in the nasal cavity. As you already know the nasal cavity is used for resonance of noise and producing nasal sounds by opening the soft palate which connects with our vocal system. It's also used for venting our cooling systems, it's one of the various vent openings within our frames for ventilation but its main function is for smell. Within the cavity there are thousands of electronic nervous endings that respond to the chemical stimuli of gases. When nerve endings react to the stimuli of the chemical gas or gasses, they analyse the gasses and the results of the analysis are sent to our main processors of what the chemicals are."

"Oh okay, How long do the nerve endings function for?"

"Our frames have a number of specific components that manufactures specialized nerve endings depending on where they are within our frame, when a nerve ending stops functioning due to overuse a new one is installed and the old one is removed and destroyed."

"How does it do that?" Megatron was silent for a moment before replying,

"It is very complicated to explain, and some words do not translate into English. It would take several hours to explain the process."

"Oh fair enough. What about taste then?"

"We have a sense of taste but it is only for energon and raw metals. Energon can come in different forms but we only consume it when it's in liquid form. What acts as the tongue for our vocal systems is not the tongue we use for taste.  
>Unlike your human models of a robotic vocal system ours has another valve. This particular valve is larger and blocks off the vocal cylinders and opens a channel that leads to our fuel tanks. The tasting process takes place in a chamber on the other side of the valve, this way we can spit out what we're consuming if we need to. With raw metal we chew them up into small pieces before they go into the chamber. We taste to access what type of metal or what grade of energon we're consuming.<p>

"So energon is graded like how gas for cars is graded?"

"Yes, only we have a higher spectrum of grading for our energon. Within the chamber there are electronic taste receptors which are made up of many nerve endings clumped together only these ones are specific to taste. These receptors analyse the matter within the chamber then send the analysis to our main processors before chamber expels the substances to our fuel tanks in case we need to expel the substances."

"The solid metals, do they break down or something? Do you have the equivalent of stomach acid?"

"Yes, we only use the substances in our fuel tanks when we need them so the solid metals have time to break down. The acids within our fuel tanks are highly concentrated and if our tanks burst or leak it can lead to our frame being eaten away by the acids.  
>Our fuel tanks and any pipe connections to it are made extremely strong and sturdy to avoid bursting, cracks and any kind of leakage. Luckily mine was not damaged from the ambush, if a human were to touch the acid it would burn their flesh and they'd be killed."<br>"Oh. Well yes that escalated quickly." Rachel said with her eyebrows raised.

She heard the rumble of Timsy's truck before she saw it roll up the drive way with their load of parts needed to fix Megatron. He jumped out and looked at Megatron's moving arm,  
>"Wow you fixed it, nice work babe." He said walking up and sitting by Rachel.<br>"He was so shit to work with." She muttered to him. Megatron growled indignantly and Timsy laughed holding his sides.  
>"You two act like siblings. I love it"<p>

…

Samantha climbed out of the truck quickly and winced when pins and needles ran up her bare feet as they hit the cold ground. She only had roller skates the night she'd had snuck out and had lost them during her run in with Bumblebee.

She followed Sam into a building marked N3 which Optimus had told them was where the cafeteria, bathrooms and sleeping quarters were. The pair walked inside and down a hall where a door on the left stood open. They walked in to the cafeteria and two soldiers sat casually at one of the tables, four dishes of hot and steaming food sat on the table. The two soldiers looked up and smiled,  
>"Sam! What's up kid?" Sam walked forward with Samantha closely following him.<br>"Epps! Lennox! Hey guys." Sam walked over to them and greeted the soldiers like old friends. Sam introduced Samantha and much to her surprise the soldiers greeted her just as kindly.

…

:Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch! OUCH! Slag it Ratchet! Stop digging so hard!:

Bumblebee spoke through a personal wave on the comlink to the medic who was working wrist deep to remove a large build-up of grime and muck from the base of Bumblebee's door wings. Bumblebee lay face down on a medical berth with his arms propping his head up. Ratchet continued to dig around under armour pulling out handfuls of grime ignoring Bumblebee's twitching door wings.

:Shut down your sensory systems properly then, I know it takes longer to start it back up but at least then I don't have to put up with complaints that I'm being too rough! This is a mess Bumblebee you need to maintain proper maintenance of your frame. Primus this is disgraceful:

:I do try to clean out my frame but you know how hard it is to clean those hard to reach places by yourself. I've kept my frame in fairly good order considering my circumstances:

Ratchet wiped the last of the grime off his fingers and Bumblebee sat up.

:Yes I will admit you have maintained fairly good health Bumblebee. Now we need to find out what's happening with your battle computer:

Bumblebee's door wings dropped and guilt was etched into the scout's faceplates. Ratchet placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at the scout caringly.

:Tell me what happened Bee:

"I thought the soldiers here would be mean and scary but you guys are actually really nice." Samantha said to the two soldiers she was sharing a meal with. Epps and Lennox had come off their shift of patrolling the boundaries of the base when they'd been told of visitors that were due to come. Naturally they both had volunteered to be the ones to meet them as they knew Sam and hadn't seen him in a long time.

Lennox laughed and Epps chuckled at Samantha's comment,  
>"No way man, we're not like that. During a mission we are a lot different but it's a different atmosphere where lives' could be on the line so we can't afford to stuff around."<br>"Fair enough. How did you two find out about the Autobots?"  
>"We found out when we got caught up in the middle of a battle. We were trying to get civilians out of the battle zone when we and some other civilians, Sam included, were almost crushed by a flying truck. When I say flying I mean it was soaring through the air straight for us-"<br>"It had been tossed by a Decepticon when they were running at Optimus" Epps cut in,  
>"Yeah, well Ratchet saved us by jumping in front of it and cutting it in half with this huge rotary saw. After that we got offered a job to work with them. By that time we'd gotten to know the Autobots pretty well and we accepted." Lennox answered finishing his meal.<p>

"We heard about your first run in with them." Epps said from across the table,  
>"Yeah it wasn't all that pleasant." Samantha said looking down at her now empty plate.<br>"That sucks. I can promise you though that the Autobots are only here to protect you. They'd never intentionally hurt you."  
>"Yeah they've saved us on the field more times than I can remember." Lennox added.<p>

He noticed that everyone had finished their food so he stood up and showed Sam and Samantha to their temporary rooms. Sam's room was in between Epps's and Lennox's room and Samantha's was on the left of Epps's.

Samantha and Sam slept until late the next morning and met up in the cafeteria for morning tea. Samantha was a lot happier when Lennox gave her some clean clothes to replace her dirt covered attire and a pair of shoes that fit her pretty well. She didn't mind that the clothes were slightly too big or the fact that the shoes were like hiking boots. She put on the murky green shirt and camouflage trousers then threw her tangled hair up into a high bun before finding Sam filling a second plate of food in the cafeteria. He looked up and laughed,  
>"I almost didn't recognise you!"<p>

…

Ironhide walked into the medical ward and stopped completely stunned at the sight before him. Bumblebee lay face down on the ground next to the berth and Ratchet was hanging face down over the short end of the berth with his legs hanging off one side and his arms drooping off the other dangling close to Bumblebee's frame. Hardwire cords ran from one mech to the other.

Ironhide heard Optimus walk in behind him and stop.

:What…happened here?:

:I don't know if I should laugh or…what did happen here?: Optimus chuckled at Ironhide then walked up to Ratchet and pulled him up then lay him down on the berth and Ironhide followed suit and picked Bumblebee up off the floor.

:I think they've short-circuited one another:

:Sure looks like it. I think Ratchet tried to stop Bumblebee from falling off the berth but they short circuited before he could. I didn't know they felt that way about one another:

:No not like that! Primus Ironhide. Let's just wake them up:

:Sorry Prime, but let's face it. This looks quite odd:

Soon enough Bumblebee and Ratchet both sat next to each other on the berth, hardwire cords still were attached to Bumblebee and Ratchet snarled at the two mechs when they tried to remove them.  
>"I have found the problem with Bumblebee's battle computer. Its rogue coding and if I disconnect from his processor I'll have to re-track it which will take hours and I'm not doing that again. I can't destroy the coding unless Bumblebee's battle computer is fully online.<br>I'll need to force activate his battle computer, destroy the coding then his battle computer should shut down by itself as there won't be any threat around and he should be able to process this. During the procedure I'll need both of you to hold Bumblebee down as everything he processes will be a potential threat to him and he will attack."

Bumblebee listened to Ratchet with growing fear. He looked at Optimus and Ironhide.

:For the sake of Primus do not let go of me!:

Bumblebee said over the comlink with fear in his optics. He didn't want to cause any more damage or hurt any other humans. Ironhide placed his hand on the scout's shoulder  
>"Do not worry Bumblebee, it will be fine both Optimus and I will be here."<p>

"Assuming that Bumblebee is restrained throughout the whole procedure everything will go fine." Ratchet said carefully standing without pulling any hardwire cords.

"We'll being the treatment in an hour, I'll have everything ready by then."

…

Optimus had left the medical ward when the sirens went off. Head spinning at the wailing he took to towards the main hangar. He burst inside avoiding a number of soldiers underfoot asking what the scanners had picked up.  
>"Our atmospheric scanners have picked up an incoming signal. It's going to touch down in 15 minutes 10 klicks north of the base. Its transmitting this signal."<p>

The speakers sounded a signal that Optimus hadn't expected to hear in a long time. Around him soldiers were preparing to set out with tanks and explosive's ready for a battle. He urgently called Ironhide through the comlink.  
>"Stop! Wait! Soldiers stand down!" Ironhide burst through the door with his cannons humming,<br>"What is it Prime?"  
>"That signal is not a threat, that is an Autobot touchdown signal." Ironhide stood shocked for a moment as he listened to the still playing signal and he uttered one word staring at Optimus.<p>

"Perceptor."

…

Ratchet stood with his arms crossed staring Optimus. The leader grew more and more uncomfortable as he told the silently glaring medic what was happening.  
>"So while you're out getting Perceptor who is going to help me with Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked simply.<br>"Ironhide will be there and there are chains on base you can use to tie him down to the berth and if the procedure can be postponed Perceptor can help." Bumblebee sat on the berth listening to the idea, he was fine with postponing the procedure but he could tell Ratchet was not.  
>"The procedure cannot be postponed Prime. I need to you here to help."<br>"And what of Perceptor?"

The medic vented angrily.  
>"He's a smart mech, send out a location ping for him to come to us."<br>"The human Government feel that he is a potential threat to their national security and we must access him when he lands, human orders Ratchet." The medic turned away snarling wordlessly. He finally did give Optimus a proper answer,  
>"Perceptor is the last 'bot they should be worried about. Go get him and I'll have to use the chains to tie Bumblebee down."<br>"Thankyou Ratchet." He nodded wordlessly and Prime left with a fast walk. Once he was out the door he started running to where the humans were already to leave. Transforming in fluent movements and heading for the gates the humans followed. He hoped he was making the right decision.

:Ironhide get to the medical ward. NOW!:

The weapons specialist flinched at the temper in the medic's voice. He made his way to the medical ward and walked in to see Bumblebee being chained down to the berth. The scout looked at him with a surprising smile in his optics.  
>"You're looking happy about this." He said to him,<br>"No I'm slagging not now get over here!" Ratchet snarled with his back turned. Ironhide sniggered and walked over and started following Ratchet's instructions.  
>"Do you think this will work without Optimus?"<p>

"Well if it doesn't work the humans could possibly have a new threat on their hands." Shocked, Bumblebee tried to sit up but the chains forced him down. Ratchet ignored him, there was nothing he could say to comfort the scout, either the procedure would be a success or it wouldn't.  
>"Oh."<br>"Yes so hold him the slag down!" Ratchet turned and walked to the top of the berth so he was looking directly down Bumblebee.  
>"Okay Bumblebee we're starting the procedure now."<p>

…

Optimus pulled up and transformed at the edge of the crater, he peered down and saw the new Autobot transforming. The humans he noticed seemed tense and on edge. The small amount of weaponry they'd brought was loaded and ready to fire.

Perceptor climbed out of the crater and steadied himself, dirt still clinging to parts of his frame. His sight fell on Optimus and he practically ran over to his leader,  
>"Optimus!" Perceptor placed his hand on Optimus's shoulder in greeting and Optimus returned the gesture.<br>"Perceptor, it's good to see you old friend. What happened to you? Last I heard you were with Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Cosmos and Blaster."  
>"I was." He said sadly,<br>"But I was separated from the group when we got hit by a meteor shower, I was drifting through space, lost until I picked up your signal. It was the only signal I'd picked up since being separated. I have no idea where the rest of my team are." He said unhappily.

Optimus's spark twisted imagining how many other Autobots had been separated and lost like Perceptor.  
>"I'm sorry to hear of this Perceptor. Come with me, Ironhide, Ratchet and Bumblebee are on this planet under my command."<br>"I haven't seen any of them in such a long time! What planet is this anyway? What are they?" He said looking at the humans interested. They didn't seem as threatened by Perceptor at this point but they looked between one another uncomfortable with the way the new Autobot looked at them.  
>"They're humans, the indigenous species of this planet. We have an alliance with them. I'll explain everything to you on our way back to the base where we are currently residing."<p>

Optimus was not surprised at how interested the new Autobot was with the planet, and the ecosystems and the various forms of organic life he was seeing and hearing about on the way back.  
>He was surprised at the panic and destruction of the base that they rolled up to. His spark twisting in fear, guilt and panic he transformed and ran to the medical bay to find it destroyed. There had clearly been a fight, Sam was sitting with Samantha, she had an arm around him and he kept his head low.<br>Ironhide was holding a severed left arm in his right and Ratchet was holding his own wounds while roaring at the human leaders who were clearly panicked and holding weapons to the two injured Autobots. Ratchet's pained optics landed on Optimus and instantly he knew what had happened.

**A/N: I haven't edited this chapter as much as I should have but I wanted to post it today and get on with the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviews, it's so good to get feedback and really motivates me. Sorry for any typos etc. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Eleven: ****Chaos **

Ironhide bellowed in agony as Bumblebee viciously ripped his arm off in a few swift movements. Bumblebee had broken free of the chains during the most critical part of the procedure. Ironhide had thrown his full weight on the scout to try and hold him down while Ratchet attempted to complete the procedure but the small scout managed to break free of Ironhide's hold and grab his arm, finger's digging into _very_ sensitive wiring and pulling it from his frame.  
>Bumblebee shot Ratchet in the hip and the hardwire cords were ripped free as the medic stumbled back. Ratchet yelled in a mix of pain and panic, now that the hardwire cords were disconnected the rouge virus was lost and malfunctioning a fully active battle computer.<p>

Both mechs were fighting ferociously to stop Bumblebee but his battle computer was fully online and processing at maximum capacity.

Ironhide's arm was hurled at Ratchet who dodged it and jumped on Bumblebee's back. He pulled at wires and circuitry in his neck trying to immobilize the scout. Bumblebee jumped high with Ratchet still clinging to his back and he twisted in the air then slammed Ratchet into the ground hard enough to break free of his grip. He rolled off Ratchet and Ironhide tackled him through the closed hangar door making metal shriek and tear as the two ripped the door off its hinges.

The medical ward had been torn up in the chaos and as the fight proceeded out to the tarmac stray bullets hit surfaces and hand to hand combat between the three alerted the soldiers of the brawl so they armed themselves ready for the worst. Bumblebee's battle computer was almost overloading with how many threats it was assessing, he shot at tanks that were armed and ready to fire before Ratchet was on top of him again.

:Ironhide we need to keep Bumblebee busy fighting us so he does not harm the humans!:

:I'm trying slaggit! I've only got one arm right now!:

Ratchet was still fighting Bumblebee when a hail of bullets aimed by the soldiers hit Bumblebee. Ratchet yelled at them to cease fire but it was too late. Bumblebee attacked. A few of the closer tanks were tossed and he started shooting without a pause.

Ironhide sprinted and tackled Bumblebee with a snarl despite he only had one arm to wrap around the scouts body. Bumblebee's missile missed its target of the building N3 where soldiers were spilling out of its doors, the missile hit the tarmac and sent rubble and shrapnel shooting everywhere with a deafening blast.

Bumblebee kicked Ironhide off him and jumped on top of warrior ripping at his armour. Ironhide yelled angrily then yanked one of his door wings down. Bumblebee silently shrieked in pain then rolled off and away from Ironhide. Another hail of human bullets hit Bumblebee and his battle computer started calculating that retreating would lead to his best chance of survival.

The humans continued to fire upon the mech as he retreated into the woods shooting at the base sending more shrapnel spraying into the soldiers, making then run for cover. Ratchet and Ironhide were yelling at them to cease fire as Bumblebee shot down part of the base fence but their yells were almost lost amongst the explosions and blasts of both Bumblebee's weapons and some of the more panicked humans still firing their weapons.

The last anyone saw of the yellow scout was him disappearing into the woods.

…

Sam was walking with Samantha back to building N3 after they'd explored the parts of the base they had access to. It'd only been about an hour since they'd gotten up Sam had had kept the conversation flowing since then. He'd asked Samantha how she was feeling about everything that happened since the night before and her response was a small shoulder shrug and simple  
>"Yeah okay I guess."<br>During the walk he got a text message from his parents saying '_B safe. Samantha's parents say take care of her and bring her back b4 her birthday!'  
><em>He looked over at Samantha after reading the message._  
>"<em>Thaya when's your birthday?" she looked at Sam questioningly  
>"About six days away, why do you ask?"<br>"I just got a reply from my mom, she said your parents want you home before your birthday."  
>"Ah okay, did they say anything else?"<br>"Only that they want me to take care of you." He said with reddening cheeks. Samantha laughed at him and took his phone to read the text message.  
>"Typical them." She said. Sam was looking at his feet when he felt Samantha wrap her arms around his neck and shoulder from behind him and hold his phone out in front of them,<br>"Smile" She snapped a photo and still leaning on Sam they looked at the photo. They both had open mouth smiles and It looked like Sam was giving Samantha a piggy back.  
>"I'm keeping that." Sam said looking at the strange eyes of Samantha in the photo.<br>"So what do you want for your birthday?" Sam asked as Samantha let go of him and handed his phone back.

Samantha never got to answer because just as Sam asked the question an ear splitting shriek of metal tearing as a hangar door ripped off its hinges and two robots crashed to the ground fighting one another knocked them back in shock. Sam stumbled and looked up seeing Ironhide fighting Bumblebee. His stomach dropped and twisted as he watched what he thought was a sparring lesson between the two turn into a horrible brawl. Sam noticed Ironhide's arm was missing as he rolled off of Bumblebee and watched Ratchet run at Bumblebee then attack him just as ferociously as Ironhide did.

Sam ran towards the three Autobots yelling for them to stop with Samantha hot on his heels trying to grab his shirt to stop him from heading into the fight. He ran past building N3 screaming for Ratchet to stop fighting when the soldiers already on the tarmac began firing at Bumblebee. Sam could hear Samantha yelling at him to stop running but her voice was lost within the blasts of the gun shots and Ratchet yelling at the soldiers. His heart was pounding and he was getting more panicked as he watched his guardian attack the two Autobots furiously. Sam screamed at the top of his lungs to Bumblebee, finally he stopped running only a hundred meters or so from where the Autobots were fighting and Samantha caught up with him.

"BUMBLEBEE STOP! STOP FIGHTING THEM! BUMBLEBEE!" His guardian did not stop, he didn't even appear to have heard Sam, he turned and shot at the soldiers. Sam heard Samantha's high pitched scream as Ironhide tackled Bumblebee and the missile he'd shot miss the hangar that moments ago they was only just meters away from. The blast sent them to the ground and rubble painfully pelted at their skin. Sam looked at Samantha to see if she was okay, she'd rolled over and screamed breathlessly eyes wide. He looked over to what she was staring at. Ratchet was crouching over them between where they were lying and where the missile had het, he had protected them from the shrapnel caused by the blast.

Ratchet looked up when Ironhide yelled in pain. He leaped up and ran over to him and pulled him up off the ground. Sam got up and ran a little wobbly towards Bumblebee and the soldiers open fired on his guardian again. Suddenly Samantha grabbed him and held him back.  
>"Let go! I have to help him!" She held on to Sam with all her strength and yanked him back<br>"Sam stop! There's nothing you can do to help him! Look! It's his battle computer!"  
>"I helped him last time!" With tears in his eyes he struggled half-heartedly against Samantha's grip as his guardian blew up the barrier fence and retreated into the woods.<p>

…

"What the hell was that?! I thought those robots were on our side!" Ratchet heard a new soldier say as he worked quickly on patching up leaking pipes in Ironhide's shoulder. He ignored the tanks and other weaponry that was aimed in his direction by panicked soldiers that were yelling at each in confusion.

The whole base was in a panic and sirens were going off left, right and centre. Ratchet vented angrily and he continued working on Ironhide's shoulder.

:Calm down Ratchet if you act aggressive they'll attack:

:Of all the fragging things to happen…he had to break the chains…Optimus better get back soon:

Ironhide did not reply to Ratchet's muttering as he clamped the last leaking pipe. The medic stood up and turned to the soldiers noticing how the more panicked and newer recruits back away slightly holding their loaded guns ready to fire. He found Sam and Samantha in the crowd, the boy was crouching on his knees with tears rolling down his face and Samantha had her arms around him in support.

It wasn't until Lennox and the other NEST officers on base came forward telling their soldiers to stand down and for the sirens to be turned off that Ratchet found any relief. They stood tensely completely unsure of what to make of the situation and Lennox was the first of them to speak to Ratchet and Ironhide,  
>"What happened to Bumblebee? Why did he attack the base?" Ratchet looked directly at Lennox as he replied.<br>"Lennox I am going to have to request I speak to you and the other officers in private about this matter." Lennox was silent before he nodded,  
>"Medical ward then."<p>

Ratchet didn't have a chance to explain the medical ward had been damaged during the incident before Lennox and the other officers began walking towards the hangar. Ironhide got up and the two Autobots followed them ignoring the soldiers that still aimed weapons at them.

Once they were inside one of the men noticed Sam and Samantha had followed then in, he tried to get them to leave but Sam flatly refused and Lennox stepped forward and stopped the soldier saying that they had clearance as Sam was Bumblebee's charge. The soldier eyed the two teenagers before walking away from them and staring accusingly at Ratchet.

"Okay Ratchet, what happened to Bumblebee?" Lennox asked looking up at him.  
>"Bumblebee came to the base last night because he needed repairs. His battle computer, a processor within our frames that aids us during battle and combat, is malfunctioning.<br>The malfunction is making him unable to process what is a threat to him and what isn't, because he cannot process this he also cannot shut down his battle computer, it will only shut down when it no longer is assessing any potential threats."  
>"Why were we not told of this?" One soldier asked, he had a cut next to his eyebrow and his hand kept nervously running over a pistol that was strapped to his hip.<p>

"It would have violated the classified Alien/Autobot Cooperation Act we have with your human government as our battle computers are technically a form of weaponry. I was working on repairing the battle computer with Ironhide's help prior to this incident.  
>In order to repair his battle computer I had to force activate it meaning he was analysing Ironhide and myself as threats. During the procedure he attempted to attack us however Ironhide was there to hold him down and he was chained to the berth for additional restraints." The medic picked up a part of the broken chain and held it in one hand.<br>"He broke free of the chains during the most critical part of the procedure, his battle computer was functioning at full capacity when he broke free and now I fear it will not shut down by itself as it was force activated."

"So basically what you're saying is you decided to perform a perilous and not to mention _dangerous _procedure that endangered everyone on base without warning the NEST team, without using proper restraints _and _now because of that we have a very dangerous and hostile Autobot running around the state that cannot be reasoned with because its analysing everything around it as a potential threat?" The same soldier with the cut asked in disbelief, Lennox glared at the man.

Ironhide huffed angrily,  
>"Optimus was meant to help with the procedure but because a new Autobot had landed on Earth and <em>your <em>government stated one of us had to go to the crash site in case the Autobot acted hostile towards you humans he had to go with the team to find the new Autobot."

"And we could not postpone the procedure because of the specific malfunction of Bumblebee's battle computer. If we left it unrepaired any longer it would have increased the chance of his battle computer on lining and him becoming hostile at the worst time imaginable and endangering the lives on base." Ratchet cut in before the soldier could say something.

The soldier stared at Ratchet before losing his self-control and yelling and pointing his finger accusingly at the mech  
>"Lives <em>were<em> just endangered! We nearly lost men because you didn't do your job properly! _You _should have told the rest of the NEST team on base what you were about to do and how dangerous it was before you let a hostile robot lose in the base!"

"I have already said that I would have been violating the Alien/Autobot Cooperation Act! And if I postponed the procedure it increased the chance of Bumblebee losing control and attacking when I was not around! I had no other option than to do the procedure with just Ironhide's help. As soon as I have reattached Ironhide's arm we can go out and track Bumblebee down and repair him." Ratchet angrily snarled at the soldier but the soldier did not back down,

"NO YOU ROBOTS HAVE DONE ENOUGH! YOU WILL STAY HE-" Lennox lunged forward and grabbed the soldier, throwing his pistol at the floor and holding him by his shirt,  
>"Stand down soldier! Those <em>robots<em> are the only ones who stand a chance against Bumblebee so they _will_ be going out to find him! Do you understand me?!" The soldier angrily ripped free of his grasp and nodded,  
>"Yes sir." He turned away from Lennox then back to Ratchet,<br>"So you say his battle computer may not shut down on its own, meaning he is a very dangerous threat to us. If it has not shut down by the time we find him, we shoot to kill." Ironhide growled threateningly, Sam protested in anger and Ratchet began snarling at the soldier in a rage no one had seen before. It was only when Optimus ran into the medical ward that everyone stopped and looked at the leader. Ratchet looked at Optimus with pained optics.

:He broke free of the chains Prime. Bumblebee attacked the base and retreated into the woods:

:Ratchet I'm so sorry, this is my fault:

:No it's not, you couldn't break the Act we have with their government. We need to act fast, Bumblebee's battle computer is still online:

:Tell me what happened:

Ratchet explained the situation to Optimus through the comlink as the enraged soldier was forced to stand down by Lennox. He left the hangar escorted by two other officers.

Sam wiped tears from his face then spoke up,  
>"The first time Bumblebee's battle computer malfunctioned it did shut down but it took a while. Are you sure it won't do the same thing Ratchet?"<p>

"Because I force activated it and his battle computer was functioning at full capacity it may not shut down like it did the first time." Ratchet walked over to Sam and crouched low,

"Sam I promise I will do everything I can to save Bumblebee, and the soldiers _will not _shoot to kill." Fresh tears rolled down his face and he thanked Ratchet silently, overwhelmed with what had just happened to his guardian. Optimus spoke up,

"As soon as Ironhide's arm is repaired we will begin tracking Bumblebee, Lennox get our satellites to track down his signature and keep tabs on movements until we are ready to set out."

"Yes sir." Lennox pulled out his phone and began organising what Optimus had requested. One of the officers spoke up,  
>"You do realize we are obliged by law to alert our president of what has happened here and this could lead to Bumblebee being deemed an enemy to the U.S."<br>"I realize this, we will do our best to track down Bumblebee and stop him before he does any more damage as soon as we can."  
>"We will tell our president of this, good luck." The last few officers, including Lennox left the hangar to alert the president and the other officers at Diego Garcia of the incident.<p>

"For now all we can do is wait until Ironhide is repaired." Optimus said when they had left.

"I'd be happy to assist with that Prime." Perceptor walked in from outside and everybody in the room turned and looked at him. Ratchet limped forward as sparks spat out from his damaged hip,

"Perceptor, it's so good to see you! Your help with repairs would be much appreciated." Ratchet said as he placed a hand on Perceptor's shoulder. Perceptor return the gesture before stumbling back as Ironhide roughly wrap his arm around him in a hug  
>"Perceptor my old companion! What happened to you?" he said openly happy to see the mech. Sam looked at Optimus questioningly and he got a 'tell you later' look from him.<br>"I was separated from my team by a meteor shower and was lucky enough to pick up Optimus's signal. I don't know where the rest of my team are." Perceptor replied to the warrior that only just let him out of the hug.  
>"We'll be able to pick up their signals if they enter the Solar System, until then we don't have the technology on Earth to find them I'm sorry Perceptor." Ironhide said picking up his arm he'd just dropped.<p>

"I'm sure they're fine, I cannot say if they're heading towards this system it has been a while since I was separated." Perceptor said. He looked around the hangar and his optics fell on the last two humans in the room.

…

"You must be Sam Witwicky." Samantha looked at the new Autobot intently, there was something about him that separated him from the others in the hangar. Sam looked up at him with tear streaks going down his dirt smeared face,  
>"Yeah I am." The new Autobot smiled,<br>"I am Perceptor, Autobot scientist, it is a pleasure to meet you, Optimus has told me much about you.

"Nice to meet you Perceptor." Sam smiled half-heartedly and Perceptor looked at Optimus in concern,  
>"Bumblebee is Sam's guardian and close friend." He said simply to Perceptor.<br>"Sam I promise you I will do all I can to help Bumblebee, I'm not much of a fighter but I can assist Ratchet in repairing his battle computer." Samantha could see respect and gratitude in Sam's eyes as he thanked Perceptor.  
>Perceptor turned to Samantha and stared at her intently for a moment. She had a good guess that he was looking at her eyes. What he said she did not expect,<br>"Oh Primus I have never seen something so beautiful!" Samantha stomach dropped as he walked towards her and transformed into a microscope right before her, the lens a foot away from her face.  
>"Your optics are the most exquisite thing I've ever seen. I am Perceptor" he transformed again and Samantha smiled a little shocked, she'd never received such a compliment about her eyes before.<br>"Uh…Hi I'm Samantha."  
>"Optimus has told me about you, it's a pleasure to meet you."<br>"It's nice to meet you too."

"Could I ask to take a closer look at your optics at a better time? I'd be very interested to know why they look so black." Samantha realized why he was different, he wasn't aggressive. The others had shown some kind of aggression at some point but Perceptor radiated a friendly affection that she hadn't seen from any other Autobot before.  
>"Oh yeah sure, I'd be happy to." Perceptor smiled and thanked her before Ratchet got him to help him repair Ironhide. Optimus crouched to the two,<br>"Would you two like me to take you back to building N3?" Sam just silently nodded and Optimus transformed. Samantha climbed inside with Sam and they travelled back to the hangar with Optimus gently swerving around shrapnel so the two didn't jostle around too much in their seats.

…

Lennox walked into the cafeteria after a heated meeting he'd just had with the other officers and liaison of the president on a video call. He saw Sam and Samantha sitting with Epps in a corner and walked over to them,  
>"Hey guys, how're you doing Sam?" He asked sitting down next to the boy. Samantha sat next to Epps and she was putting a dressing on a gash on Epps's back.<br>"What's going to happen to Bumblebee?" Sam asked looking at Lennox. He was silent for a moment before looking down at his callused hands.

"The president has stated we've got one chance to find and capture Bumblebee and if he does any more damage or attacks anyone else before we do he will be deemed a threat to the U.S and he will be killed. If we don't manage to restrain Bumblebee the first time round the president will be notified and Bumblebee will be captured using what he called other more successful strategies." He saw Sam's face change as he spoke.

"William you have to get him back. You have to, please William." Sam looked pleadingly into his eyes and Lennox took a long breath,  
>"I promise we'll do everything we can Sam. The new Autobot is coming with us so we have additional help." Lennox stood up and turned to Epps,<br>"You're coming too Epps, we have to put a team together of men who still trust the Autobots despite what happened outside, let's go. Sam, we'll do what we can." He turned and put a hand on the boys shoulder before turning and leaving with Epps.

…

It was an hour later when the assembled team left to find Bumblebee, Ironhide's shoulder was reattached and his leg was fixed with the help of Perceptor and Ratchet even had enough time to repair his hip to a satisfactory level. Sam watched from the tarmac as the small team left, it was not surprising that a lot of the men did not want to help find the yellow scout after seeing him viciously tear apart half the base. When they were out of sight he turned and walked back into the building.

Samantha and Sam had sat waiting in the cafeteria for hours. Soldiers had walked in and out for food at random hours and eventually Samantha left to go shower and comb out her hair. When she got back it was 8pm, Sam had been waiting for the team to get back for 5 hours. Her hair was still wet and water seeped down her back and into the fabric of her shirt when she sat down next to Sam, he looked tired and on the verge of sleep so she managed to convince him to go get some sleep, when he had retreated to his room she walked to her own room for sleep but she tossed and turned unable to settle.

It wasn't long before Samantha found herself knocking on Sam's door. The door eventually opened and Sam stood shirtless with scruffy bed hair.  
>"I'm sorry for waking you but I can't sleep, can I stay with you for a while?"<br>"Err…yeah of course." Sam was a little groggy and slow to respond but let Samantha in anyway. She sat down on the single bed with her legs tucked up underneath her. Sam sat down next to her and lightly placed a hand over hers.  
>"What's wrong Thaya?" Samantha tried to answer the question but her throat closed over and her eyes welled up. She felt Sam's arm around her shoulders when he realized she was crying.<br>"I-I'm sorry, but e-everything's just be-become so messed up and so crazy a-and I can't deal w-with it all. I know y-you've got your own worries a-and I'm sorry b-but I just can't d-deal with it."  
>"It's okay Thaya, I have my problems but I'm always here to listen to yours."<p>

"I-I understand why the Autobots are here b–but they just t-terrify me a-and everyone kept saying h-how great they are until Bumblebee a-attacked. I'm sorry but still don't trust h-him but only because o-of what happened t-to me. What happened today h-hasn't changed the w-way I think of h-him or how m-much I t-trust him. I feel like I should t-trust the other Autobots because o-of how highly everyo-one thinks of them and I'm beginning t-to, like h-how Ratchet shielded u-us from the blast but n-not all of them. It's hard for m-me to comprehend everything, my entire w-world has ch-changed and I'm just not d-dealing with it well. I'm sorry for disturbing you b-but you're the only one I-I could go t-to." Samantha felt horrible because she knew Sam was struggling with his own worries even though he said it was fine to talk but she just _needed _someone for comfort.

"Don't feel like you have to trust the Autobots because others do. They will gain your respect and trust in their own way and when they have the chance. Ratchet knew shielding us from the blast would have helped you see another side of them.  
>There are people who think because they are aliens and because of their size and power and such they deserve instant trust and respect but I know for a fact that the Autobots think the same way we do.<br>You need to have a reason to trust and respect them and if you don't have one yet that's fine. You'll get that reason eventually." Samantha had managed to calm down to hiccups but a few tears still ran down her face. Samantha mumbled wordlessly and leant into Sam and they found themselves lying on the bed facing one another.

"Thanks Sam, I'm sorry for coming in here and c-crying about my problems w-when you have your o-own. How are you holding up?" Sam's eyes welled up again and she felt awful,  
>"Oh Sam I-I'm sorry"<br>"No it's okay it's just Bumblebee is my best friend and I know he would die to protect me. I feel so useless right now, there's nothing I can do to help him and I feel sick with worry. If Optimus and the team fail and if Bumblebee gets killed because he's deemed as a threat to the U.S I'll feel responsible for it even though I couldn't do anything to help or stop it from happening."  
>"They all promised they'd do everything they could to find him and get him back, even if they don't do it today I'm sure they will next time." Sam started crying and Samantha wrapped her arm around him.<br>"Lennox said they've only got one chance to find him and if they fail-" Sam didn't finish his sentence, he was completely consumed in tears and Samantha hugged him closer. She felt him wrapped his hands around her waist and their foreheads were gently pressed together as Sam wept his fears out until they both fell asleep.

…

The sight of the two teenagers sleeping on the single bed wrapped in each other's arms was the last thing Lennox neither expected nor wanted to see when he came to wake Sam after returning from the mission.

**A/N: In case anyone is confused Bumblebee silently shrieked because his vocal processor is damaged.  
>Sorry for any typos etc. the story isn't as edited as much as it should be. I hope you readers are enjoying the story and thank you to everyone who favourites my story and leaves a review.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Twelve: Early morning light**

Bumblebee sped along back roads into the next state. His battle computer was still fully online, processing and analysing every turn, every change in his systems, every changing external factor and every human he passed.  
>Bumblebee tried to keep well away from humans but there were times when he couldn't avoid passing them on the roads and he thanked Primus each time his battle computer analysed them as a low threat and didn't throw him into an attack when he passed them.<p>

As soon as he had retreated into the thick cover of the woods Bumblebee's battle computer had forced his comlink, communications and locational systems into shut down so he couldn't be picked up on scanners, and location pings that the other Autobots could use to find him. The human satellites could still be used to locate Bumblebee so his battle computer analysed constantly being on the move was the option with the highest success rate of the humans losing track of him.

He was starting to wonder if the whole situation could get any worse when his power systems started lagging, and red alerts began flashing and blocking up his vision. He was getting close to crashing and didn't know how much longer he could go before he did shut down into a stasis lock.

…

Lennox stared at the two teenagers sleeping on the single bed entwined in each other's arms, the scene lit up by the light shining in from the corridor.  
>"You've got to be kidding me. Sam wake up!" the boy opened his eyes and looked around tiredly before his eyes settled on Lennox.<br>"What time is it?" he asked gently pulling his arms away from Samantha. Lennox flicked the light on and crossed his chest over his arms,  
>"4am. This better not be what it looks like." Sam realized what he meant and sat up, Samantha moved and rubbed her eyes, she was beginning to stir.<br>"What? Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no. I get what it looks like but it's not _that_-what?" Sam asked stopping his own nervous rambling when he saw Lennox had his eyebrows raised with a deadpan stare at Sam.  
>"Your lack of shirt makes it a little harder to believe 'nothing happened'." Lennox said. He wasn't angry, but he kept his voice neutral until he was sure what was really going on.<br>"I always sleep with no shirt on."  
>"I've never seen you sleep Sam."<br>"Ah. Good point but I swear-"  
>"what's going on?" Samantha asked cutting off Sam.<br>"The team has returned from the mission, you two need to get up and come with me." Lennox said just as Epps's head popped around the frame of the open door,

"What's going on here?" he looked at Samantha then at Sam. He studied the teenagers for a moment then looked at Lennox,  
>"Nothing happened here man, trust me." He said before disappearing into the corridor.<p>

Lennox turned and followed him,  
>"What the hell do you mean 'nothing happened' how could you possibly know that?" he asked a little stunned at Epps.<br>"Calm down, trust me. I've got daughters and I know a guilty boy's face when I see one." He said with a cheeky smile. Lennox stared at him for a moment before laughing and slapping his friend on the shoulder before turning to walk back into the room. Epps walked into his own room to change into something more comfortable.

Samantha got out of the bed and walked out of the room mumbling something about getting changed. Sam jumped out of the bed and pulled his shirt on quickly followed by his shoes and jacket before Epps returned from his own room. Samantha came back wearing a jumper over her shirt and her trousers were rolled up so her shoes were completely showing, she yawned then ran a hand over her hair,  
>"Okay let's go."<p>

…

Opitmus scanned over the Intel from the mission and prepared himself to speak to Sam. As Bumblebee was Samuel's guardian by Cybertronian law Optimus was required to tell Sam what had happened to his guardian.

He was not surprised to see Samantha walk in behind Sam, she had her arms crossed over her chest and yawned tiredly as she leant against one of the large crates inside the hangar. Sam walked straight up to Optimus with the one question on his lips that Optimus knew the boy was dreading to hear the answer too.  
>"Did you find him?"<br>"I'm sorry Sam but we could not find Bumblebee. He had travelled too far and too fast for us to find him and our team was not equipped for a long distance mission. Our only option was to return to the base and plan out another mission." Optimus said with his head hung a little. Sam stared up into Optimus's optics, the smallest glimmer of hope still in his eyes.  
>"Do you know where he is?"<br>"Yes, we've been using the NEST satellites to track his movements." Opitmus said projecting a map from his optics highlighting Bumblebee's movements. The humans studied it before Samantha asked what state he was in since she was unfamiliar with American soil.  
>"He's currently in Utah." Epps said pointing at the highlighted path on the map.<br>"He has also shut down his comlink, communication and location systems meaning we cannot use our methods of tracking him. We can only use the NEST satellite to track him" Ironhide said from where he sat on the floor cleaning one of his cannons. Perceptor stood next to him glancing every so often at the warrior work single handed.

"Lennox didn't you say the NEST team only had one chance to find Bumblebee and bring him back?" Sam asked and Lennox nodded,  
>"Yes but there will be a meeting where the NEST officers are going to try to convince the President to let our team find and catch Bumblebee rather than him give clearance of other methods to contain the 'runaway Autobot' as the President himself put it. According to our Intel Bumblebee hasn't attacked anyone or anything since leaving the base which could convince the President to give us clearance."<p>

"But because he has crossed the border that could also be the only reason the President needs to not allow us to find Bumblebee." Ratchet said to the group, Sam's face fell.  
>"I fear his power systems are running low, if his battle computer is still running he won't be able to rest and he'll be forced into a stasis lock if his levels become too low."<br>"A stasis what?" Sam asked Ratchet.

"A stasis lock is similar to what you humans call a coma. Our frames and processors will shut down due to a life threatening injury or if we continue to run until our backup power supplies have been used up. We cannot wake up from a stasis lock until our backup supplies have been recharged or until we are repaired. Finding and restraining Bumblebee while he is in stasis lock will be simple and no one will be attacked but I'll have to get him out of stasis lock before we can repair his battle computer which in itself presents some complication." Ratchet told the boy. Sam shut his eyes and his face was etched in worry and fear.

"So what's the plan? How are you guys going to get him back?" Sam asked worry making his voice waver a little.  
>"If we have your President's clearance we plan to track him down and isolate him from any towns and civilians before immobilizing him and bringing him back here to repair him. If he is in a stasis lock the mission should go a lot smoother." Optimus said directly to Sam.<br>"How long will it take to get him back?"  
>"I cannot answer that Sam. I don't know." Sam was silent for a moment before his face lit up in a thought and he spoke slowly, thinking carefully as he spoke.<br>"I'm not sure how much longer I can stay here, my parents are probably starting to wonder where I am and Samantha's too. I want to stay here until Bumblebee gets back but if you can't say how long it'll take to find him, I don't know what to do."  
>"Sam we will not send you or Samantha home unprotected. When we get Bumblebee back you'll be brought straight back here to see him."<br>"If you have the permission" he mumbled sadly,  
>"Permission which we <em>will <em>get" Lennox said placing a hand on Sam's shoulder,  
>"I will be one of the men speaking on behalf of NEST."<br>"Please do all you can Lennox." Sam said to Lennox with plead etched in his voice.

Lennox nodded at Sam before Samantha spoke to Optimus, she spoke shyly still uncertain about the red and blue leader.  
>"Since I can't leave without Sam and he needs a guardian before he can leave, who is going to be that guardian? My parents want me home before my birthday which is five days from now."<br>"I will assign one of my mechs to be Sam's temporary guardian." Optimus opened a comlink channel with Perceptor as Lennox went over what he needed to include in his message to the President.

:Perceptor how would you feel about being Sam's temporary guardian if I assigned you the task?:

:I'm not much of a warrior Prime, wouldn't you rather Ironhide to protect the human?:

:I would rather assign you this task as this is a unique chance for you to have some time to get to know humans and because Samantha also needs to be guarded. I've noticed she does not appear as fearful of you as she does of the rest of us:

Optimus waited patiently for Perceptor's answer, he sensed the mech was thinking it through thoroughly. Finally he got an answer.

:Optimus, I will accept the task of temporary guardian to Samuel Witwicky:

:Thankyou Perceptor:

Optimus listened to the current conversation going on between the humans. Samantha was discussing with Sam what they would be telling their parents when they got back. He slid into the conversation with precise timing so he wasn't interrupting anyone.

"Sam, I am assigning Perceptor to be your temporary guardian. Once he has a new alt mode he will be ready to take you and Samantha back home." Sam looked at Optimus surprised  
>"I don't want to leave yet, I can't just leave Bumblebee."<br>"I understand your worries Sam but it would be safer for you to go back to your home while we repair Bumblebee. Once he is back and repaired Perceptor will bring you back to see him." Samantha touched Sam's arm a whispered to him  
>"It will be okay Sam they'll bring him back." He nodded to her then looked back to Optimus,<br>"Okay, we'll go back home when Perceptor is ready." Optimus could see going back home was the last the boy wanted to do.

:Perceptor I hope you're ready to become a Triple changer:

Ratchet spoke through an open comlink. Perceptor's head snapped over to Ratchet surprised.

:I get to keep my microscope alt mode?:

:Of course, I'll need to transfer some codes so you have the storage capacity to keep your original alt mode:

"What options do I have for a new alt mode?" Perceptor asked to the group and Ironhide stood up with a huff,  
>"Come with me we'll find something for you." The two walked out of the hangar and Ratchet followed them to transfer the codes to Perceptor. The humans were confused at the sudden strange question but turned back to their own conversation without much pause.<p>

"You guys can go back to your rooms and get some more sleep if you want, I'll be in the cafeteria if you need anything." Epps said as he absently cracked his knuckles. Sam began walking towards the door muttering about sleep and Samantha and Epps followed him.

Optimus watched the three leave the hangar then sat down and vented. He took the time alone to relax himself and send a prayer to Primus. The situation was stressing all the Autobots more than they were letting the humans see.  
>If they did not have the clearance to find and capture Bumblebee the Autobots were not just going to sit back and let him be killed by the humans they were protecting. Optimus prayed to Primus that they would get the clearance the NEST team needed because if they didn't his only option was to betray the American Government to save Bumblebee.<p>

…

Ironhide drove along the highway looking for an alt mode with Perceptor in his tray in microscope mode.

:You're lucky you're getting a selection 'Ceptor, I had to choose the first car I saw:

Ironhide used Perceptor's old youngling nickname which he'd never really stopped using since the scientist had gotten the title.

:This model suits you 'Hidy:

:I haven't been called that since…since I last saw you:

Perceptor laughed through the comlink at the stunned mech happy he didn't grumble at the old nickname.

:It's been too long:

:It has, I cannot word how happy am I that you're here 'Ceptor:

:I almost didn't believe it was you hugging me, I was speechless:

The two Autobots had a long history and only a few other Transformers actually knew it, and less would realize it unless they'd been around when the two were growing up.  
>The two mechs had grown up as childhood friends. They considered each other as brothers and nothing had changed when they chose their own career paths as scientist and warrior or when the war broke out and they became separated for thousands of years. What the two shared with each other they considered unbreakable and irreplaceable and both mechs would take a bullet for the other without question or hesitation.<p>

:There's not much selection at the moment since it's too early for most humans to be out driving. You might just have to choose the next one we see:

:The vehicle approaching appears acceptable:

An Alfa Romeo 4C sped past and Perceptor quickly scanned the model. Ironhide pulled over and Perceptor transformed into the car model.  
>"Honestly, I think you look good." Ironhide said eyeing the deep red of Perceptor's new armour design after a moment of silent.<br>"Thank you, I'm happy it was this shade of red. Shall we see who's faster then?" Perceptor said with slight grin  
>"Let's burn rubber!" Ironhide yelled swiftly running to the other side of the highway and transforming. Tires span leaving black lines on the road and the two mechs began their race back to the NEST base.<p>

…

Samantha huffed and sat up in her bed annoyed that she couldn't get back to sleep. She walked into the cafeteria to find Epps casually lying on a row of seats that'd been lined up close together reading a book.  
>"Hey Epps." The man looked away from his book and saw Samantha walking towards him. He sat up and smiled,<br>"Hey there Thaya, what are you doing up?"  
>"I can't sleep" she said sitting on the chair where his feet just were,<br>"I've got too much energy. Surprisingly." Epps put his book on the table and stood up,  
>"Come with me then." Samantha followed Epps warily only to find him take her out the building to the tarmac which had been cleaned up and was half way through repairs.<br>"Do you jog at all?" Samantha looked at Epps confused  
>"Like exercise jog? Yeah sometimes."<br>"Good, come on then, 2 klicks."  
>"I don't know how far that is but don't tell me or I'll give up half way through. Let's just run." The two started jogging towards one end of the base, staying closer to the lit areas so they could see where they were running.<p>

As they jogged Samantha began telling Epps about her trust issues with the Autobots and how when Ratchet had shielded them from the blast she became so confused about everything.  
>She was beginning to feel a form of trust towards Ratchet after he protected her, was terrified of Ironhide and the way he seemed to loom over her, wary of Optimus but could see he was kind at heart and she didn't trust Bumblebee but still was worried about what had happened to him.<br>Epps gave her his opinions and advice about everything and even told her what his first one on one experience with Ironhide was like.  
>He agreed that Ironhide seemed to loom over everyone but once he'd gotten to know the mech the looming stopped and when he was in a good mood Ironhide acted just as most of the other soldiers did except he was about '47 times bigger than them' as Epps had put it. Samantha had to stop running she laughed so hard at Epps.<p>

The two got back to building N3 just as Ironhide pulled up with Perceptor behind him. Samantha, hot and sweaty from just running what Epps had told her was about 1.2 miles which she later figured out was 2km, stared at the new sleek car that pulled up and transformed.  
>"Wow Perceptor you look awesome." The Autobot looked down at her,<br>"Thank you Samantha, I'm ready to leave when you and Sam are." He said cheerily.  
>"Ratchet wants to see you before you go Perceptor. I assume he just wants to check how well you're adjusting to being a triple changer." Ironhide said to Perceptor and gently put his hand on Perceptor's back and pushed him in the direction of the medical ward. Ironhide looked down to Epps and Samantha as the red scientist walked away,<br>"Morning Epps. Samantha." Epps smiled and nodded at Ironhide  
>"Good morning Ironhide."<p>

Samantha silently stared thinking about what Epps had said about Ironhide and realized he wasn't really looming over them at the moment, probably because it was only herself and Epps.  
>"Morning Ironhide" she said trying not to sound timid. Ironhide looked down at her and nodded with a smile.<br>"Samantha could I ask a favour of you?" Samantha stared at Ironhide suspiciously,  
>"What is it?" she asked cautiously and much to her surprise Ironhide chuckled at her,<br>"I've been asked by Optimus to get Sam as he wishes to speak with him before you both leave. Could you go wake him for me?" Samantha smiled crookedly at the thought of Ironhide crouched on his hands and knees tapping with one finger on Sam's window trying to wake him. Personally she thought his style of waking someone would be more like smashing the wall down and flipping the mattress at 6am on a Saturday.

"Yeah sure thing. I'll go get him now." She mock saluted Ironhide and Epps then she walked to building N3. Samantha found Sam sleeping in his room, face down in the pillow with one foot slightly hanging over the edge. She was tempted to actually flip the mattress on him but quickly shook the thought away and just gently rubbed his back. Sam stirred but didn't wake up so she sat on the bed and began to trace her fingers up his spine and then over his neck.  
>"Sam. Saaaaam." She said softly. He twitched then his head shot up from the pillow with a quick inhalation,<br>"Optimus Prime wants to talk to you, Ironhide is outside waiting to take you to him." Samantha stood up as she spoke and heard Sam get out of bed. She leant against the door frame and watched Sam put his shirt on then walk out to the corridor.

Once he was out of the hangar Samantha turned and went to the showers to wash. On the way there she realized that she probably smelt really bad when she'd woken up Sam.  
><em>Oh great, that's exactly what I wanted to do, wake up the cute guy when I smelt like absolute crap, could I do anything more embarrassing today?<em> She thought annoyed as hot steaming water cascaded over her body.

…

Sam walked out of the hangar with tears pouring down his face and Optimus's words still spinning through his head.

_I'm sorry to tell you this Sam but as Bumblebee is your guardian I must. If the NEST team is denied permission to go find Bumblebee then the Autobots will have to break the Alien/Autobot Cooperation Act and go rescue Bumblebee from being killed. We cannot lose him and we will not let humans destroy one of our own. If the Act __is discontinued and the NEST team is shut down or if Bumblebee is killed by humans I will have no choice but to leave Earth __with the Autobots. We will not be able to return to Earth without starting a war with the humans. While they may not trust us we will still continue protecting Earth from Decepticons but we will not set foot on Earth again unless we are destroying Decepticons. I'm sorry Sam, for everything, but I promise I will make sure Bumblebee will be repaired._

Sam felt the weight on his shoulders get heavier with every step he took. The realization that he may never see Bumblebee or any of the other Autobots again after today burned him. Bumblebee was his best friend and the last thing Sam had talked about with him was sending Bumblebee back to stay with the other Autobots, he'd wanted a normal life and felt like Bumblebee was stopping him from having that.

Now Sam would give a thousand normal lives just to see Bumblebee one more time.

He walked to the showers to wash away all his sorrows and sadness. He found Samantha waiting in the cafeteria with Epps after he'd cleaned up the room he was staying in and was finally ready to leave.

Sam noticed Lennox was nowhere to be seen as he walked over to them. The three walked silently out to the tarmac and sadness hung in the early morning light as Sam hugged Epps good bye telling him to say good bye to Lennox for him.  
>Samantha found herself wrapped in Epps's bear hug, which crushed her lungs a little but she still managed to whisper a strangled good bye before she and Sam got into the new red car and drove off back towards home.<p>

**A/N: So sorry for this chapter taking longer to upload than the others. My holidays are over now (lame) so I'll still be working on the story but the chapters are going to take longer to write and upload. **

**As usual thank you to all the wonderful people that have favourited this story and reviewed, it means a lot to me to know that people are enjoying this story. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Thirteen: Free movements**

Rachel watched Megatron test his new mobility in a wide space a good few hundred meters from the couch where she lounged with a glass of water in her hand.

She intently observed the _mech_, she reminded herself the difference between a robot and a mech or femme yet again remembering Megatron crossly explaining the difference between him, an _Autonomous Robotic Organism_ and a lifeless clueless robotic drone. He then explained the difference between a mech and a femme, a subject Rachel found _incredibly _interesting, she never thought there could be such a difference between robotic genders and how similar they were to human genders. She of course wanted to ask Megatron more about it but he was in a bad mood that day so she left her questions for some other time.

Megatron moved through a fighting sequence, throwing punches and kicks fluently then rolling backwards and brought his leg out in a low sweeping kick so smoothly he made it look like a dance but Rachel could still see the force behind his movements. The sequence continued and as Megatron moved he kicked up dust and left indents in the dirt where his hands and feet were landing. He jumped performing a kick that twisted his whole body around so perfectly it looked like he defied gravity. But the dance like motions suddenly ended when he landed on his right foot and yelped in pain. His knee caved and his other leg came down to the ground for support. Megatron held his bad ankle with both hands and he stumbled and hopped backwards on his good leg before staggering to the ground and landing on his back grunting in pain bringing up a fresh cloud of dust.

Rachel put her glass down and ran over to him,  
>"Shit! Are you alright?" She stopped a good distance from Megatron as she'd learnt that when Megatron was angry it was best to stay out of the way. He lay still for a moment as the dust settled then sat up growling and inspecting his ankle.<br>"Damn these weak materials to the pit." He growled and Rachel glared at him, she and Timsy had emptied their wallets at his request to buy top grade metal and materials to fix him but of course it _still _wasn't good enough.  
>Rachel sighed absently tracing the scar tissue on her now un-bandaged arm then walked back to the couch knowing he was fine and his ankle repairs were still in place. He'd most likely landed badly and something pushed against some of his sensitive wirings.<p>

Despite Timsy trying to explain to him that rushed repairs would only work temporarily Megatron still worked solidly with no rest through the nights and days since his arm had been fixed until he was completely mobile.  
>When he'd first stood up it had been one hell of a laugh for the couple as Megatron resembled an oversized angry toddler that kept falling over after every few steps it took and he had to recalibrate his balance coordinator before he could successfully walk a decent distance. All the same Rachel was astonished at the progress he'd made in the last three days.<p>

They'd completely emptied his cooling system's supply of water, which was muddy and smelt like the bottom of the dam they'd pulled him from and refilled the system with fresh clear water and they'd cleaned up his hydraulics system which weren't all that bad.  
>But the couple were quite confused when Megatron told them to collect as much high quality gas as possible for him and when they'd filled every empty jerry can they owned, he didn't touch it but told them to supply him with more. They had to spend even more money to buy a tank to contain such an amount of gas. The tank sat half full, a few hundred meters away from where Megatron had just fallen.<p>

Megatron got up and limped on his foot heading towards the tree that the couch was under, he sat down and placed his injured ankle on his opposite thigh.

"You okay Mega-dude?" Rachel saw his optics flash at her nickname for him,  
>"Must you call me that human?"<br>Megatron's biggest give away for when his was unhappy was the way he addressed people. He'd use their names when he was in a good mood but otherwise he'd use titles that would put emotional distance between him and who he was talking to and make it appear like he had no kinship with them. He was very good at placing barriers of hierarchy between himself and others, always placing himself on top. Rachel usually ignored his subtle attempts at placing himself above her and went through her day as if she was clueless to it.

"Unless you have a better one, and you didn't answer my question." She heard Megatron sigh before replying,  
>"I am weak, I need fuel."<br>"We got you the highest quality gas available to us-"  
>"I mean energon." Megatron cut over her words and looked across to Rachel<br>"Well tell us where to get it and we'll find it for you, we've told you this already."  
>"The<em> form<em> of energon I need is not on Earth. You must get me more gas, that tank needs to be full."  
>"We can't afford to get that much, why do you need all this gas anyway?" Rachel didn't understand why Megatron was just collecting gas and not using it.<br>"Here, I believe this will pay for the gas. And possibly everything else you've spent your money on."  
>Rachel heard a small clink then Megatron leant over and opened his hand up into front of her, on one of the metal plates of his palm sat a diamond, rich blue and glinting in the sun, it was cut to perfection. Rachel felt her mouth drop open as she leant forward on his thumb digit.<br>"Oh my…where did you get this?" She'd never seen a real diamond in her life and _never _expected that Megatron would just have one on him ready to give away at a moment's notice.  
>"I've had it for some time now. Take it I have no use for such a thing."<br>Rachel gently lifted the golf ball sized diamond up to the sun. She was amazed at how many edges it had.  
>"What kind of diamond is it?"<br>"A rare Sapphire. I cut it myself"  
>"Wow." She heard Megatron laugh at her expression but she couldn't drag her eyes from the glinting beauty of the blue diamond.<p>

…

Timsy woke with a start as the crash made his whole room shake. He groaned and let his head hit the pillow again trying to get back to sleep. Megatron had fallen again, he knew it. Timsy was grateful that silence followed the crash instead of aggressive yelling. He hoped that Megatron wasn't in an irritated mood again. He didn't understand the _mech,_ Timsy internally scowled at the title. The more he and Rachel worked the easier he became irritated. Timsy had spent almost all his money and worked himself into exhaustion for that damn _mech_ and all he got was a simple nod of the head and a quick thankyou.

And dare he say or do one thing that Megatron wasn't okay with, Timsy would have his ear chewed off about it and be constantly reminded of his slip up's in the repair work he'd done on the _mech_ days after it'd happened.  
>The more about Megatron Timsy found out the more he became uncomfortable and cautions around the metal giant. Timsy was beginning to think that he was hiding something. Something huge. Something dangerous.<p>

…

The slick red car smoothly pulled off the highway into a small town as its passengers inside began to stir from their sleep. Sam and Samantha had dozed off as the sun came up and slept at least two thirds of the trip away but were now rubbing their eyes as Perceptor parked outside a café for them to eat something and stretch their legs.

Samantha went straight into the ladies room to freshen up and wash her face. She splashed cold water over her skin and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Water droplets formed on her wet face and ran down her neck then soaked into her murky green shirt. She looked tired and had dark rings under her eyes even after the sleep she'd gotten, her hair was getting oily and knotted so she pulled it back into a low bun not bothering to care how awful she looked then walked outside to find Sam sitting at a table outside the café. He was a lot more tired than her and looked like the weight of the world was set on his shoulders but still smiled at Samantha as she walked over to him.

_It's almost like he'd still try to bring a smile to face and make me happy even though nothing could bring a smile to his._ She quickly pushed the farfetched thought aside as she sat down. They bought some food and began discussing possible cover stories about why they'd been gone for nearly three days which they could tell their parents.  
>"I texted my parents that we had decided to go on a road trip the morning after the dinner party trip so you could see more of the states."<br>"Okay, but why did we leave so early? I mean my parents would have woken up to find my bed empty."  
>"Um…we wanted an early start so we could cover as many miles as possible during the day."<br>"Well that makes sense. Where did we go exactly then? My parents are going to be asking. Oh! What about photos?" Sam was silent as he thought through the questions.  
>"We didn't take any photos because…Bumblebee was taking photos for us but because he had to go help the Autobots we don't have any to show. Just tell your parents I've got all the photos and they're getting printed if they ask. We just travelled around the state to different places that I said you should see."<br>"You've got all the photos and they're getting printed and we just travelled around the state sightseeing. Got it. But what about you leaving with a yellow car and coming back with a red one?" Samantha asked looking over at the Alfa Romeo 4C knowing there was more to it than the smooth shiny red panels and tinted windows. She liked Perceptor, he gave off such a humble vibe.  
>"I'll tell my parents that Bumblebee," he choked up a little saying the name but cleared his throat and continued<br>"had to go help the other Autobots with a special mission and Perceptor is taking his place as guardian until he gets back."

Samantha put a hand over Sam trying to comfort him and he placed his other hand over hers then looked up at her and smiled.  
>"Honestly, I'm glad that you've been here with me during all of this."<br>"Me too, I'm glad that I've been able to help you Sam even though all of this has been so crazy to me, I never once thought giant metal robots existed or that I'd be meeting them."  
>"I had the same thoughts once. According to Ratchet, Optimus Prime isn't even that big they have had planet sized beings amongst their species."<br>"No way! That's crazy." Samantha said trying to imagine a planet sized robot.

They shared a silent moment before a thought hit Samantha.  
>"What are we going to say when our parents being to hint and stuff about us being, well you know. A thing?" Samantha felt her cheeks go red and looked away bringing her hand away from Sam's and placing it in her lap.<br>Sam coughed and scratched the back of his head.  
>"Um well, I know my parents are going to be <em>really <em>embarrassing and I apologise for anything that they might do or say to you. I'm just going to tell them to stay out of my business and that I'll tell them of any 'important news' when I have some." Sam rambled on for a moment before quieting down and Samantha just shrugged.  
>"I think I'm just going to tease my parents with it. I mean they're going to ask all sorts of questions and I'm going to give them empty answers. I'll do the same if your parents ask me stuff too if you want." Sam laughed,<br>"Yes, do that. They enjoy making conversations awkward way too much."

There was a trill of noises and Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen for a moment,  
>"Perceptor says we need to get back on the road now if we want to get home on time, you ready to go?" Samantha chugged the rest of her drink then stood up,<br>"Yep I'm ready." She walked over to the car and slid into the passenger seat then leant back into the seat comfortably. Sam got into the driver's seat and the car smoothly pulled out into traffic and they were off again only an hour or so from Sam's hometown.

…

Sam stared out the window at the passing landscape. Samantha was absentmindedly humming to a song currently playing on the radio but Sam was far away in his thoughts.  
>He didn't know what to do anymore, he always had a rough idea of what was happening around him and what to do about it but now he felt lost. All he wanted was to have Bumblebee back. He <em>needed <em>to have him back.  
>Sam felt so stupid that it took him losing Bumblebee to <em>finally<em> realize that he couldn't just go back to being a normal teenage kid with a normal life after meeting the Autobots. His life had been changed forever and he hated himself for realizing that sooner.

Sam pulled his phone out and began trying to form a text message but everything he typed didn't sound right.  
>Finally he read through his text, '<em>Bumblebee I'm so sorry for everything, I wish I never tried to send you away. Please come back, I miss you and I need you brother.' <em>He sighed and pressed send, hoping Bumblebee would reply. But the 'fail to send' alert flashing up on the screen made his hope evaporate in seconds. Sam stuffed his phone back into his pocket only just remembering that Bumblebee had turned off all his communication systems and looked back out the window. All his thoughts only on his best friend.

…

Systems stalling, sluggish processing and limbs aching Bumblebee continued his trek through the darkening scrubland. He looked around and found himself stumbling out into an open patch of land. Bumblebee made his way towards a thick of trees for cover that grew on the hill of a small valley. The mech wanted nothing more than to stop and rest but his battle computer was still processing and forcing him to keep going. Just as Bumblebee reached the top of the hill his vision cut out and his systems shut down into a stasis lock.  
>All his energy reserves drained the yellow scout collapsed and fell down the hill tumbling over and over until his limp frame slammed into a group of old thick tress shaking them violently and causing branches and bark to snap and shower down on and around Bumblebee. Dirt and grass snagged in crevices of his armour, branches and bark covering the scout he lay unconscious and completely energy drained hidden in the shadows of the valley as night began to fall over the land.<p>

…

The mech worked under the light of the moon running a cleaning rag over his weaponry. As he cleaned his thoughts trailed off to the human female, Rachel.  
>Megatron didn't understand her. She was the first human not to fear him, whether it was because she hadn't a reason to fear him yet or because she was too stupid to realize she should fear him he didn't know but Megatron would soon show Rachel he was her superior.<br>"Mega-dude. Pah!" Megatron growled to himself,  
>"Soon she will only address me by my proper title." He continued cleaning with a glower set into his face plates.<br>Rachel was so young by his species standards but she had shown so much maturity and intuition in the time Megatron had gotten to know her but the girl's childish behaviour overthrew those qualities and almost always got on Megatron's nerves. He needed to stamp that behaviour out of the girl and _groom_ her. He needed Rachel for his plans to succeed.

Megatron finished cleaning his weaponry and threw the rag on the ground as he walked over to the half empty gas tank. He was in desperate need of energon.  
>Ejecting an empty energon cube from a subspace pocket Megatron got to work filling it to the brim with gas then began compressing the cube until he had a full cube of glowing medium grade energon.<p>

Megatron sipped the energon and felt his frame melt as the energon filled his tanks. He finished the cube slowly savouring the taste then pocketed the empty energon cube.  
>Megatron centred himself feeling all his systems fire up at the sudden supply of fuel and took off in a run out into the open plains before leaping up, pushing off with all his strength into the air. Transforming into his jet mode and taking off into the sky Megatron enjoyed the simple act of flying after being held so long inside a broken frame.<p>

He half transformed back from his jet mood and fell himself glide using his jet wings to control where he went. The cool night air whistled through the gaps in his frame and Megatron finally felt himself relax, he lowered to just above the tree tops and flew over an open patch of land. Just as he shot over a knot of trees a bright glint of yellow caught Megatron's optic.

**A/N: Okay so I am apologising to all my readers in advance as I won't be uploading a new chapter for maybe two weeks or so. The reason for this is because I'm going on a ski trip for a week! Super exited because I've only seen snow and skied once before in my whole life and I cannot WAIT to get back out on the slopes. Hopefully it'll be a good week and I'll have a lot more inspiration for the story.**

**Anyway, I'm sorry to all my readers for making you wait BUT if you just can't wait that long for a new chapter, please send a personal message to me and I'll send you a snippet of the next chapter or a few chapters ahead of the story. I cannot say how soon I'll reply but I will reply to any personal messages I get.**

**On a more serious note I am becoming slightly unsure of this story. I'm still going to finish it but there's something nagging at me and I think there is just some tiny thing that isn't right with the story. I hoping my ski week will help me figure it out. **

**As usual, sorry for typos, thankyou to everyone who favourites and reviews (haven't had many reviews lately which worries me). **

**And to all my readers, Thankyou! I wouldn't be writing this story if you weren't reading (and hopefully enjoying) it. Prowlingshadow. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Fourteen: Home **

Megatron spun sharply in the air and headed back over to the knot of trees. Skilfully lowering himself down between large tree limbs he hovered just above the form that had caught his optic. Flight tech disengaging Megatron dropped to the ground landing quietly in a crouch next to the form.  
>He walked around the branch covered form looking at it from every angle until he was standing above its head. Megatron vented and looked around the area very suspicious, the yellow shine of the frame was nagging at his processors and he could not help thinking that he was walking into some sort of trap.<p>

Lazily kicking a rather thick branch off the form Megatron jumped then launched back into a defensive stance when he saw who it was. He stood motionless waiting for any kind of movement but when none came he walked forward and looked down at the yellow form not quite believing his optics.  
>"Autobot scout Bumblebee…Primus." Megatron looked around the valley then back down at the scout. After a few minutes he knelt down and carefully removed the scout's helm exposing hundreds of wires, sockets and cables. He reached up to the nape of his neck and drew a string of cables out then bent down lower and connected the cables to sockets on the back of Bumblebee's head. Luckily for Megatron Bumblebee lay on his side, stomach side pressed up against a tree making it easy for him to connect to Bumblebee's ports.<p>

Megatron groaned slightly when the last cable was plugged in and nothing happened. The scout was in a stasis lock.  
>He placed two fingers on each of Bumblebee's temples then sent an electric jolt into Bumblebee's processors. Megatron felt the scout's processors power up and automatically connect with his cables, Bumblebee's frame was still in a stasis lock but his main processors were now online and Megatron could access them as he pleased knowing Bumblebee would not have any memory of this happening when he woke from the stasis lock.<p>

Megatron looked over the scouts frame as he scanned through his memory banks; Bumblebee's frame was dirty, covered in blast marks and had dents all over it. Megatron did not know what he was looking for within the scouts memories, maybe some important Autobot Intel or why Bumblebee was out here. Megatron was disappointed that he did not immediately find any Intel but when he found the reason why Bumblebee was out here he took great interest. _Severe battle processor damage…attacked the NEST base during operation…located in Nevada…useful,_ Megatron's faceplates twisted into a smile when he found that piece of Intel and continued his train of thought. _Constantly been on the move due to battle processor not shutting down…forced stasis lock. Hah!_

Megatron remained crouched over Bumblebee as new plans started forming, twisting and interlocking with his old ones. Finally he began his work, uploading and hiding his own viruses and rogue coding in the scout's processor. A malevolent smile spread across Megatron's faceplates when he finished his work and disconnected the cables from Bumblebee and retracted them back into his own frame. Bumblebee's processors shut down once more and Megatron reattached his helm carefully before standing up and tossing the fallen branch back over his frame.  
>"Autobot, you will be my victory." Megatron muttered aiming a kick at the scout's shoulder making the frame jolt and leaving a dent in the armour plating.<p>

New plans underway and with the new found freedom of movement Megatron jumped into the air transforming as he did before happily flying off into the night to return to his temporary home.  
>…<p>

Sarah pulled the plug out of the sink and wiped down the counter top as the dirty dish water washed down the drain. She pulled off the yellow rubber gloves and took a breath, allowing herself a few moments to relax.  
>Not knowing where her only child was worried her. Sarah was not an overprotective mother but every time she let Samantha go out with her friends for parties and little teenage adventures a little part of her cried out in fear of something bad happening. Sarah couldn't handle the thought of losing her baby. She'd already lost so many.<br>Samantha didn't know it but she was Sarah and Dave's fifth attempt at having a child. All those years ago when Sarah had finally given birth to a live baby and not had a miscarriage she and Dave had thanked the heavens every day since for the gift of their daughter.

Sarah opened her eyes and looked out the kitchen window to the front yard. She saw a figure appear, walking onto the grass towards the house. Sarah stopped dead for a moment staring at the figure before darting to the door, throwing it open, running down the porch steps and throwing her arms around Samantha.  
>"Thaya you're home!" she cried as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, Sarah felt comforted when she sensed Samantha wrap her arms around her waist.<br>"Hi mum. I missed you" Samantha murmured from Sarah's shoulder. The two shared a long and soothing hug out in the front yard in the afternoon sun.

"Come inside, I want to hear all about your little adventure." Sarah said drawing out of the hug so she could take a proper look at Samantha. She looked a little tired and had a few scratches on her face.  
>"How did you get the scratches?" She asked running her thumb gently over one of them. Samantha shrugged,<br>"I ran into a branch one afternoon while running away from I thought was a wasp, it turned out to just be a bee. Can I have a shower before I tell you where I've been? I feel like crap." Sarah laughed and they began walking towards the house arm in arm.  
>"Of course you can Thaya."<p>

…

Sam pulled up outside Samantha's house and she got out the car.  
>"Good luck with everything. I'll text you later on yeah?" Sam said leaning in towards the passenger's seat. Samantha smiled through the open window,<br>"It'll be fun, hopefully, and yeah that'd be cool. I'll see you later then" Sam watched Samantha as she walked away and out of view as she turned up her driveway. Sam drove into his own yard and parked Perceptor in the garage. As the windows wound up by themselves it felt strange to Sam to not be looking at Bumblebee's familiar black and yellow model when he got out the car.

"I'll come out in here a little while to introduce my parents but if you need anything just text me, you have my phone number right?" Sam asked Perceptor,  
>"I have both yours and Samantha's mobile phone number, thankyou Sam." Perceptor's crisp British accent bounced around the interior of the car from its speakers.<br>"Okay then, I'll see you later then Perceptor."  
>"Sam?" The boy turned back to the car, his hand on the garage door.<br>"Yes?"  
>"Thankyou for accepting me to be your temporary guardian" Sam hadn't expected to hear that but he still smiled at the car knowing that Perceptor could 'see' where he was and what he was doing through his scanners and infrared technology.<p>

He'd learnt that the hard way when he was once making faces at Bumblebee's alt mode in the garage while he was talking to Sam through the radio. The scout had suddenly transformed on the spot, grabbed Sam and _gently_ tossed him onto the roof of the house leaving him there to get down by himself. Ron and Judy had laughed themselves senseless watching Sam on the roof trying to get Bumblebee to help him down, in the end Bumblebee caught Sam when he tried to climb down the piping and slipped, narrowly missing Judy's flower bed.

"Thankyou for actually wanting to guard me Perceptor" Sam couldn't think of anything else to say so he left the garage with that and walked towards the house preparing for the many questions his parents were going to ask him.

…

Ron sat on the couch with Judy tucked up next to him, they were looking over maps and travel brochures planning their big retirement holiday. They both looked up when Sam walked into the room, Judy jumping off the couch to give Sam a hug.  
>"Sammy!" Ron watched as Sam gently hugged his mother back before she sat back down and Sam sat down across from them.<br>"So where are you been?" Ron asked casually, concern an underlining note in his sentence. Sam leant back and began to tell them of the road trip he and Samantha went on, ignoring the looks he got from them as he spoke.  
>"So what's happening with you and Samantha then Sam?" Judy teased happily,<br>"Nothing. We're only friends"  
>"for now." Ron added with his own smile. Sam blushed and ran a hand over his face to hide it.<p>

"Why are you covered in cuts and scrapes then Sam? What kind of road trip were you two on?" Judy asked eyeing his dirty clothes and worn out face.  
>"We found out we're not very good campers the hard way." Ron and Judy laughed at Sam so he stood up,<br>"I'm going to have a shower but there's still some things I have to talk to you guys about so please just stay here."  
>"We won't go anywhere, we still have some questions about your little road trip Sam." Judy said to Sam as he turned leaving the room. Once he was out the room Ron turned to Judy,<br>"You really think they were on a road trip?" Judy, still looking at the door way answered  
>"No absolutely not."<br>"Autobot stuff?"  
>"Yes, defiantly."<br>"Thought so. So I was thinking Australia might be interesting after hearing about it from Dave." The couple turned back to their holiday planning not bothering to find out if Sam was telling them the truth or not. They had accepted that he was going to go out places he couldn't tell them about and be gone for days at a time but they placed their trust entirely in Bumblebee to keep their son safe so they rarely bothered to get panicked over it all.

…

Soon enough Sarah was sitting at the table with a cup of tea listening to a freshly showered Samantha explain where'd she'd been and what she'd been doing the past few days. She smiled at Samantha as she listened to her happily jabber on about her adventure with Sam.

"So the night of the dinner party Sam and I decided to go on a road trip. He wanted to show me the state and mum, he's so cute! Why would I say no? Anyway, we decided it would be best to leave early so we could cover as much ground as possible on the first day." Sarah sipped her tea before responding,  
>"Well that does explain why I woke up to find your bed empty. In future Samantha, tell either me of your father where you're going please, we were very worried. It's lucky Judy rang me before I called the police about a lost child!" Samantha's face fell a little, she knew Sarah was right,<br>"I'm sorry for scaring you mum, I promise in future I'll let you guys know where I am."

"So where did you two go? Do you have any photos?" Sarah brought the subject back and Samantha smiled,  
>"Sam has all the photos of our trip and we went to a town called…I can't remember the name," Samantha said a little sheepishly.<br>"That's okay, I'm sure I'll get to see them another time. I thought you hated long car rides though Thaya." Sarah added raising an eyebrow at Samantha. The girl looked away with a smile and she was blushing slightly.  
>"Sam is really nice. And funny, and cute. Mum I couldn't have said no, I like him. I think." Sarah laughed,<br>"Does someone have a crush?" Samantha laughed but remained silent and a thought hit Sarah.  
>"Thaya on your road trip with Sam, did anything between you two happen?" Sarah had had 'the talk' with Samantha so she hoped she'd understand but Samantha face was blank with confusion.<p>

"I mean anything sexual" Sarah said bluntly. Samantha's face went from realization, shock, embarrassment and back to shock in a matter of seconds.  
>"What! No of course not! I only said I liked him I haven't even hugged him let alone anything like. <em>That. <em>Besides I don't even know if he thinks the same way about me."  
>"Sorry Thaya but I had to ask. And I completely understand what you mean so don't worry I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Samantha nodded staring at Sarah, she sipped her tea then looked back at Samantha,<br>"what?"

…

Samantha brought her arms around Sarah returning the bone crushing hug. She felt relieved to be back in her mother's arms.  
>"Hi mum. I missed you." She muttered from Sarah's shoulder. They stood in the embrace for a few moments until Samantha felt Sarah pull out of the hug,<br>"Come inside, I want to hear all about your little adventure." Samantha felt Sarah scan over her face,  
>"How did you get the scratches?" Samantha stopped a small shudder as she felt Sarah trace one of the scratches from the blast caused by Bumblebee. Shrugging it off she responded lightly,<br>"I ran into a branch one afternoon while running away from I thought was a wasp, it turned out to just be a bee. Can I have a shower before I tell you where I've been? I feel like crap." Sarah laughed at her and they began walking towards the house.  
>"Of course you can Thaya."<p>

Samantha took a long hot and soothing shower and got changed into the most comfy clothes she owned. Surprisingly Sarah hadn't asked about the army looking clothes she had arrived in. When Samantha found Sarah she was drinking tea and waiting for her at the table. She looked up at her and smiled,  
>"So come on then, tell me about your trip." Samantha smiled at her mother then sat down and began telling her the story. She'd been rehearsing with Sam on the way back so she wouldn't forget anything but when she got on the subject of Sam himself everything she said was the truth.<p>

"Sam is really nice. And funny, and cute. Mum I couldn't have said no, I like him. I think." Samantha rambled lightly, it was Sarah's laugh that stopped Samantha from continuing. Sarah eyed Samantha with a smile,  
>"does someone have a crush?" Samantha could only laugh and look away, not even <em>she<em> knew if she had a crush on him, she couldn't tell yet. But there was something about Sam that Samantha liked despite everything they'd been through involving his car.

"Thaya on your road trip with Sam, did anything between you two happen?" The question brought Samantha back from her thoughts and she looked at her mother blankly not making any connections.  
>"I mean anything sexual." Samantha made the connection and processed a number of emotions before landing on a mixture of shock and embarrassment.<br>"What! No of course not! I only said I liked him I haven't even hugged him let alone anything like. _That. _Besides I don't even know if he thinks the same way about me." She admitted the last part with a slither of sadness in her heart. She could hope all she wanted but Samantha knew only Sam could say how he truly felt about her. The fear of rejection was overpowering to Samantha.

"Sorry Thaya but I had ask. And I completely understand what you mean so don't worry I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Samantha nodded at her mother staring at her as she sipped her tea. Sarah seemed to notice this and looked up at Samantha.  
>"What?"<br>"What if he doesn't like me back?" Sarah reached over and took Samantha's hand,  
>"That's boys for you Samantha, they can make you stay awake for hours at night stressing over the simplest things but you just have to accept the fact that they might not like you back and if they don't you'll just have to keep looking for someone who does." Samantha thought through the advice and nodded to her mother.<br>"Thanks mum." Samantha stood up and hugged Sarah, their talk having helped Samantha get a lot off her chest.

…

Lennox leaned back into the chair he was sitting in and exhaled relieved, the long and stressed meeting finally drawing to an end. When the men began filing out of the room he stood up and followed suit but once he was out of the room and the other the men had dispersed he took off sprinting out of building N3 and across the tarmac heading straight for the medical ward where he hoped Ratchet would be.

Knowing he had to find the closest Autobot as soon as he could he ran straight into the hangar and stopped breathing heavily when he saw the medic in the hangar working on something he didn't bother looking at.  
>"Ratchet! Ratchet! Get Optimus and Ironhide in here now!" Lennox breathed heavily between his words and Ratchet turned shocked at his sudden and unexpected entrance. Sending out a ping to Optimus and Ironhide across the comlink Ratchet walked over to Lennox.<br>"What is it Lennox?" The man took a few more breaths before he straightened up to answer but before he could Ironhide stormed in walking straight to Lennox,  
>"What's going on Lennox?" he asked. Optimus walked in behind Ironhide and didn't say anything he waited for the man to speak.<p>

Lennox looked up at the three Autobots and told them the news,  
>"the NEST team had been granted the clearance needed to rescue Bumblebee. We leave tonight." He heard the loud venting of the three relieved mechs all of which slouched a little before standing to their full height with new hope in their optics.<p>

…

Perceptor remained in his car mode as he sat in the garage but after a few short hours he began to feel cramped and uncomfortable due to only having a car alt mode for a short time so he carefully transformed and sat in the garage then began cleaning his weaponry. As he worked he got an incoming call from Ironhide.

:Perceptor the NEST team has been given clearance to rescue Bumblebee. Tell Sam of this as soon as possible, Prime's orders:

:I will Ironhide. Good luck and don't hurt yourself Hidy:

Perceptor heard a gruff chuckle before the call ended and he chuckled himself. He was so happy to hear that Ironhide was on this planet. It was long ago that he found himself beginning to accept he probably wouldn't see his childhood friend again but when he saw the black mech tackle hug him he nearly cried in happiness. Perceptor sent a text message to Sam updating the situation and only a few moments after he sent it he answered an incoming call from the boy.

"Hello Sam."

{Perceptor is it true?}

"Yes. I have been informed by Ironhide that the NEST team has been granted clearance to find and rescue Bumblebee." Perceptor was monitoring Sam's vitals and registered an increased heart rate which eventually slowed.

{Oh my god. Thankyou for telling me Perceptor.}

"You're welcome Sam, I'll leave you to process all of this." Perceptor ended the call and continued cleaning his weaponry still monitoring the boy. He was completely fine, a little stunned if anything but Judy's unexpected entrance had Perceptor much more stunned than Sam just was.

…

Judy walked out to the garage with a box full of tools Ron had been using to fix a cracked tile in 'his path'. She snorted a laugh at her husband and pushed the door open arranging the tools so they fit snuggly inside the box. She heard the door swing shut behind her and looked up to greet Bumblebee but jumped back in shock when she saw a completely different Autobot sitting cross-legged in the garage running a cleaning cloth over a gun.  
>Of course Judy didn't notice the Autobot insignia when she looked up at the large metal being, the first and only thing she noticed was the shiny glint and sheer<em> size<em> of the weapon he was holding. She screamed jumping back and threw the box of tools at the Autobot, tools loudly clanging off his armour and bouncing to the ground. He cried out in shock and scrambled away from the panicked woman and the hit opposite wall with his back making the entire structure of the garage shake. Judy continued screaming as sawdust fell from the roofing, some catching in her hair as she ran. She flung the door open, which bounced off the wall with a crash, and ran straight into her son. Sam grabbed Judy's arms and wrapped her up in a strong embrace to stop her from running any further. _  
><em>"Mom calm down! It's okay, he's an Autobot! He's an Autobot!" Judy stopped struggling so much and looked at Sam, her breathing heavy and panicked.  
>"Sam Witwicky! You have some explaining to do!"<p>

…

Sam dried his hair with a towel and was about to go back down stairs to continue talking to his parents about their "road trip". Before he left his room his phone went off so he picked it up and swiftly read through the text only to re-read it a few times before calling Perceptor.

{Hello Sam}

"Perceptor is it true?"

{Yes. I have been informed by Ironhide that the NEST team has been granted clearance to find and rescue Bumblebee.}

Sam felt an indescribable weight lift from his shoulders and an inkling of hope settle in its place.  
>"Oh my god." Sam was speechless,<br>"Thankyou for telling me Perceptor."

{You're welcome Sam, I'll leave you to process all of this.}

Sam heard the line go dead but he just stood there, phone pressed to his ear, stunned at the news. He eventually sat on the edge of his bed and he felt a small smile pull the corners of his mouth up, hope filling his mind.

Suddenly he heard Judy's high pitched scream and a tremor set through the foundations of the house. Sam jumped off his bed and _sprinted _out to the garage only to run into a panicked and screaming Judy at the garage door. She'd just met Perceptor. Sam wrapped his arms around his mother to stop her from running, why she was panicking so much was beyond him. _  
><em>"Mom calm down! It's okay, he's an Autobot! He's an Autobot!" He felt Judy stop struggling so much and she looked at Sam, her breathing was heavy and panicked.  
>"Sam Witwicky! You have some explaining to do!"<p>

Sam let go of Judy and walked into the garage, Perceptor sat against the wall staring at Judy who clung to Sam's arm hiding behind him. He noticed the oversized gun and cleaning cloth on the ground amongst the tools and had some idea of what had just happened.  
>"Perceptor are you okay?" The Autobot looked at Sam apologetically,<br>"I am fine Sam, I apologise for scaring your creator. I did not notice her until she was inside." Sam walked a little closer to Perceptor, Judy let go of him and stood where she was.  
>"That's okay." Sam turned to Judy.<br>"Mom this is Perceptor, he's an Autobot."  
>"H-hello." Suddenly Ron came storming in clearly panicked,<br>"What's going on out here?!" he stopped when he saw the unfamiliar Autobot in his garage. He looked at Judy then at Sam then around the garage piecing together what had happened.  
>"Dad this is Perceptor, he's an Autobot" Sam repeated. Perceptor nodded at Ron.<br>"Hello Perceptor."  
>"What happened to Bumblebee?" Judy asked walking to stand by Ron.<br>"The Autobots needed him for a mission so Perceptor is guarding me temporarily until Bumblebee gets back."  
>"I knew that road trip had a little more to it than what you were saying." Ron said to Sam.<br>"I am very sorry for scaring you Judy, please know I would never use my weaponry on a human." Judy smiled at Perceptor,  
>"It's okay Perceptor, I am sorry for throwing the tools at you." Perceptor laughed.<p>

"This is was what I still needed to talk to you guys about" Sam said and Ron turned to him,  
>"Well we know now." He clamped his hand on Sam's shoulder before turning and leaving the garage to go back to planning his holiday. Judy smiled at Perceptor before following Ron.<p>

Sam began picking up the tools and placing them in the box.  
>"Sorry about that, I was going to tell them you were here so nothing like this would happen" Sam said reaching under one of the shelves for a wrench that had slid under there.<br>"It is fine Sam, the tools didn't even dent my armour." Perceptor helped Sam with finding all the tools before the boy left him to continue cleaning his gun.

**A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back! This chapter was meant to be posted earlier but I had a lot to do this week. My trip away was fantastic and my inspiration for this story has been rekindled. Sorry for any typos, I didn't edit this chapter very much because I wanted to post it before tomorrow. **

**I've noticed that when posting all my chapters Fanfiction messes them up a bit, so I'll be going back to chapter one and editing all the chapters from there because it's annoying me and I want the story to make sense and read easily. Thankyou to all the favouriters, followers and reviewers! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter fifteen: Memories and lies**

Ironhide followed Ratchet as the NEST team made their way along the roads leading them to Bumblebee. There were lengths of chains packed in Ironhide's tray ready to restrain Bumblebee if it was necessary when the group found him. The analysts had tracked Bumblebee to a location which was a two day drive from the NEST base. What alarmed and concerned them was when Bumblebee's signature disappeared off the satellite radar, the analysts didn't know how it had happened but after Optimus had told them that if Bumblebee had gone into a stasis lock then his signature would not be traceable by the satellite radar they had calmed down and gave any updates they could to the team.

Ironhide was grateful that an airlift was organised to bring Bumblebee back, he wanted nothing more than for his comrade to be back at base and repaired. As he drove Ironhide tried to distract himself from thoughts of Bumblebee and soon found memories from his time as a youngling resurface, a very old memory came to his processors and settled there.

_"Look at him, his frame's in worse condition than a pit fighter." A young Ironhide, fresh in his youngling frame overheard a small group of younglings talk in a huddled group. He looked up from his datapad and glared at them, the group wasn't talking about him but another youngling in the room. This particular youngling was new to the city and therefore unknown to many of the younglings in the seminary. Ironhide looked over at the new youngling and noticed his frame was a standard plain silver form and did look battered and scuffed around the edges. Cracks ran around the edges of plating and rust was flaking off at joints making the youngling look neglected and weak but Ironhide knew better than to judge the newest member to the seminary just from his looks._

_He understood that not all Transformers were wealthy enough to afford new and custom made youngling frames and some couldn't even afford general maintenance as often as needed. He also knew that there was a reason why the youngling looked so ill and whatever the reason it wasn't his business.  
>"Don't his caretakers understand what maintenance means?" A taller femme said crossing her arms over her chest as if she'd heard Ironhide's thoughts. Ironhide appreciated his own new black and grey frame before looking back at the group which consisted of two femmes and four mechs.<br>"Most likely not, look at the cracks! I bet they beat him," one of the mechs answered.  
>Ironhide looked back over at the youngling just in time to see his head twitch slightly towards the group but otherwise remain still.<em>

_"Hawser I dare you to go flip his chair up." A youngling Ironhide knew as Hoarfrost spoke quietly to the group. Ironhide was close enough that he could hear the group whispering to each other and he knew that Hawser wouldn't pass up an opportunity to cause trouble. Putting down his data pad, Ironhide got up and casually walked closer to where the youngling sat, he stood close to another table between the group and the youngling. He pretended to be picking some grime out from under his plating as he watched Hawser sneak over out of the corner of his optic. The youngling didn't notice his presence until Hawser hooked his ankle joint around the leg of the chair and kicked outwards sending the chair and the youngling toppling to the ground with a crash. Hawser wobbling with giggles walked past Ironhide towards the group of younglings who were all clutching their sides and crying with laughter. Before Hawser could make it back to the group Ironhide launched and was on top of him in moments._

_Hawser screamed as Ironhide threw punch after punch bending and cracking the soft plastic plating of Hawser's frame. He pinned Hawser down with his legs and fought against Hawser's struggles continuing to aim punches,_  
><em>"Don't treat others like that! It's not okay to bully someone because of how they look! You small processor glitch head fragger!" Ironhide yelled angrily using both hands to beat Hawser's helm into the ground causing his optic to rupture. Hawser screamed in pain managing to break one arm free of Ironhide's hold and ripped at wiring under some chest plating. Ironhide yelled in pain and retaliated with a quick blow to Hawser's ruptured optic. The brawl continued until two femmes ran into the room and pulled them apart. Ironhide struggled against the arms of the femme and continued yelling wordlessly at Hawser.<em>  
><em>"Ironhide! Ironhide!...<em>

"Ironhide! Are you there?!" The black mech was sucked back into reality and answered quickly through his interior speakers.  
>"Yes Lennox?" Ironhide took a moment to assess his surroundings as Lennox began talking about something he had asked Ironhide a few moments ago. They had only driven 22 miles since Ironhide 'zoned out' and he vented knowing it was going to be a long trip riddled with uneasiness.<p>

…

Megatron landed gracefully back at the farm as the early morning light began to brighten. Neither Rachel nor Timsy were awake yet so Megatron settled himself down on the ground and went over his plan one more time. The coding and viruses he had implanted into the Autobot's processor would remain dormant until the medic had repaired his battle computer. Once repaired the coding and viruses would be activated and begin hacking and overriding the scouts processors. Within eight earth days the Autobot scout would be completely under his control and he could use the scout for whatever tasks he wanted. Megatron looked over to the house as he realized he no longer needed Rachel or Timsy for his new plan anymore.  
>Originally he was going to use them as moles and get them amongst the Autobot ranks to feed him important information but now having the scout changed everything assuming his coding and viruses were not discovered. If they were then he'd lose his mole and he would have to use the two humans as moles like he originally planned. Megatron, still thinking things through very carefully, looked over at the sunrise realizing that he may still need Rachel and Timsy after all.<p>

"Morning Mega-dude," Megatron looked over to the house where a messy hair and tired eyed Rachel was walking from. He vented at the name but ignored it and held his hand out inviting her over.  
>"Good morning Rachel." She walked over then shyly leant against his foot, he sensed her relax more when he didn't say anything.<br>"Did you sleep well Rachel?" She bent her head backwards and looked up at him, a motion that reminded him of a curious sparkling.  
>"Timsy was restless all night. I ended up sleeping on the couch he was that bad. Where were you last night?" Rachel looked away from Megatron as she asked and he eyed her suspiciously.<br>"How did you know I had left?"  
>"I heard you making noises this morning, so where did you go? What were you doing?" He could see Rachel was always very curious, another notion that reminded him of a sparkling.<br>"I flew to Utah, I stumbled across something useful while I was testing my flight tech."  
>"Something useful huh?" Megatron sighed and thought quickly then gently poked at Rachel to turn her around so she was facing him.<br>"I can tell you what I found but you must swear absolute secrecy to me. The information I tell you must not be told to anyone, including Timsy. Understand?" Megatron didn't shutter an optic as he spoke and Rachel heard the seriousness in his voice.  
>"I understand."<br>Megatron began explaining his new plan to Rachel, he was careful to leave out parts that would make her distrust him.

…

Rachel tossed and turned in the dark trying find a comfortable position on the small couch,  
>"All that money from the diamond and Timsy's too cheap to buy a better couch. Snoring stingy idiot." She grumbled to herself giving up and just lying there with her legs hanging over the arm of the couch and the blanket half draped on the floor. She lay silently as the morning light slowly began to light the room and listened to the few birds that were already chirping in the distance. Rachel heard a plane amongst the chirps, she began to become curious as the plane noise became louder and deeper. She was beginning to think what she was hearing was not an ordinary plane just as it cut off and a small vibration ran through the structure of the house, a vibration she knew only one individual could cause. She tossed the blanket off her and tiptoed out of the house. The brighter light outside made her blink and rub her eyes before she scanned the area to find Megatron sitting facing the slow sunrise.<p>

"Morning Mega-dude," she said walking over to him. He looked over with a slight glare at the nickname. She heard his vents blast open then settle again before he held his hand out inviting her over. Rachel could see certain similarities between human and Cybertronian behaviour from time to time with Megatron and she often wondered how they could be similar yet so different at the same time.  
>"Good morning Rachel." She walked over then slowly leant against his foot, making sure he didn't mind the action before she relaxed against the smooth and unusually cold metal.<br>"Did you sleep well Rachel?" Rachel tilted her head back and stared up at Megatron, he held no expression as he looked back at her.  
>"Timsy was restless all night. I ended up sleeping on the couch he was that bad. Where were you last night?" Rachel asked looking away as she quickly changed the subject. Timsy was not someone she wanted to be thinking about at the moment. The couple had been fighting so much lately over the smallest things and they all seemed to relate back to Megatron. Rachel was beginning to wonder if Timsy and Megatron didn't get on well.<p>

It worked as Megatron was silent for a moment before replying with his own question,  
>"how did you know I had left?"<br>Rachel smiled slightly at the question, _he's really not as quiet as he thinks he is _she thought before replying_. _  
>"I heard you making noises this morning, so where did you go? What were you doing?"<br>"I flew to Utah, I stumbled across something useful while I was testing my flight tech."

Megatron's response was not something she expected, usually he just blew her off with some explanation that what he was doing was none of her business. _Flight tech?_ Rachel didn't expect to hear that. She didn't even know that Megatron _could_ fly and wanted to question him about it. But she could see that what he had found was something important to talk about.  
>"Something useful huh?" She heard Megatron sigh at her answer and she felt a little worried, was she wrong to ask about it?<p>

She felt Megatron gently poke her so she turned around to face him.  
>"I can tell you what I found but you must swear absolute secrecy to me. The information I tell you must not be told to anyone, including Timsy. If you betray my trust you will pay for it. Understand?"<br>"I understand." She said a little pale after hearing the threat in his voice. Her theory about Megatron and Timsy not getting on well hardened at his words of Timsy not being able to know the information she was about to be told.

She sat quietly listening to Megatron. After he had told Rachel what he'd found, what he'd done with it and why he'd done it her only response was  
>"I am willing to help you in any way I can Megatron but first I need you to tell me what happened between you and the Autobots for such hatred to form, what did they do to you?"<p>

Megatron did not reply but looked over to the house instead. Rachel followed his gaze to see Timsy pulling a shirt over his head as he walked out the front door.  
>"I will discuss this with you later" Rachel heard Megatron mutter. Timsy reached them and looked at each face suspiciously for a few moments.<br>"Have I interrupted something?" Rachel looked away and rolled her eyes _trust him to be like that first thing in the morning. _

"Of course not babe" she said looking back at him. Though he didn't look convinced Timsy nodded  
>"I was going to make some eggs for breakfast, want some?" he asked. Rachel looked up at Megatron who was ignoring both of them and picking at some grime under his armour plating then back to Timsy.<p>

"Of course" she said with a smile. As he turned away to walk back to the house she felt the smile slide away and sadness began to grow within her. They were beginning to fight so often now and they were growing apart. She could feel the barrier between her and Timsy growing larger and stronger with each day that past.

An unexpected tear rolled down her cheek and Megatron noticed it before she could wipe it away.

"Why are you crying Rachel?" the girl looked up at him and gave a sad smile.  
>"I just realized that Timsy and I are not going to last much longer, what we have is going to end and when it does my heart is going to break and I think my world will end" She said looking away and out to the horizon realizing what she was saying was true. It was only a matter of time now.<p>

"Human hearts cannot break. They're made of soft organic tissue, however they could rupture." Megatron replied not understanding what she meant. Rachel gave a soft laugh and wiped away few more tears.

…

Timsy felt around the bed in the dark expecting to find Rachel sleeping next to him as he began to wake. Finding nothing more than cold empty sheets he opened his eyes and looked around in the dim light. She was not in the bed.  
>He got up and walked to the next room to find a pillow and blanket on little couch. Timsy sighed feeling a pinch of rejection and walked back to the bedroom for a shirt.<p>

He pulled it on as he walked outside and was not surprised at all to see Rachel talking with Megatron. He lost count of the mornings she had gotten up early to spend time with Megatron rather than stay in bed with him like she used to do. He was beginning to feel replaced by giant metal being.  
>Timsy felt anger bubble up within him and he was starting to feel nothing but hatred towards the Decepticon. He was all Rachel talked about now, things they needed to do for Megatron, what money they had left to buy materials for Megatron, how much more time it would take to repair <em>Megatron. Megatron, Megatron, MEGATRON! <em>

Timsy and Rachel had not had a day without some kind of fight start up between them in what felt like months. He reached the two, who were now silent and he looked them both in the face.

"Have I interrupted something?" he saw Rachel look away and felt something twist in the pit of his stomach. He knew something was wrong.  
>"Of course not babe." She looked back at him and Timsy merely nodded.<p>

"I was going to make some eggs for breakfast, want some?" he asked. Timsy watched Rachel look up at Megatron and back to him like she was checking for his permission to answer.  
>"Of course" she said with a fake smile. Timsy turned away keeping his face emotionless, hiding what was eating him away on the inside, and walked back to the house and into the kitchen.<p>

As the clear of the eggs began to turn white in the hot pan Timsy tried to not think of Rachel. Despite his efforts he found himself thinking about everything between them. Sadness pulled ears from his eyes and he dug his fingers into the corners of his eyes trying to stop them from spilling over but as they rolled down his cheeks the sadness turned to anger and Timsy felt himself become consumed by it.  
>He grabbed the pan handle and hurled it at the ground yelling wordlessly. Eggs were flung across the kitchen and the pan crashed on the ground making a loud bang. In his rage Timsy turned to the wall and felt his hand form a fist and in moments was putting hole after hole into the wall. Rubble was falling to the ground and dust was settling over Timsy shirt. Tears pricking the corners of his eyes Timsy pulled his bruised fist out of the wall and slowly stretched his fingers out. Pain rippled through his hand so he ran it under cold water. The pain from his hand was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling from the thought of the one person he cared most about, the one person he would do anything for was slipping away from him and he couldn't get her back. Timsy blamed it all on one thing.<p>

Megatron.

…

Later that day Timsy had mysteriously left to go for a drive leaving Megatron and Rachel alone to talk.

"As I told you this morning Rachel, I found an Autobot scout in Utah. He was unconscious and injured. I was able to put my own viruses and rogue coding in the scout's processor which will activate when the Autobot is repaired. It will take eight earth days before the coding will have completely hacked and overridden the scout's processors leaving him completely under my control. Once that happens I will be able to collect very important Intel and destroy the Autobots from the inside of their own base. I shall soon have a puppet at my command to destroy the Autobots."

Rachel sat on the ground in front of Megatron listening to him.  
>"I have told you I am willing to help you fight the Autobots but what can I actually do to help? And I also want to know what happened between the Decepticons and the Autobots for all this to begin. What happened Megatron?"<p>

Megatron vented then began telling Rachel the story of the Great Civil War.

"Legend has it that my race was born from an ancient artefact known as the Allspark. It is not known where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. Many years ago, before this planet even existed, a great civil war broke out on our planet over this artefact. The war was between the Decepticons, the leaders of Cybertron, and the Autobots, a rebellious group formed by a mech known as Optimus Prime. The Autobots wanted to take the Allspark and use its power to create an army of massive force and destructive power and use it to overthrow the Deception leaders.

The Autobots grew in numbers faster than the Decepticons could take out their bases. Our war continued until it consumed all the planet's resources and now Cybertron is nothing more than a barren waste land. In the final days of the war the Decepticons had no choice but to secretly launch the Allspark into space to stop the Autobots from taking it.

Once the Autobots had found out the Allspark had been launched into space it became a race for the Decepticons to find the Allspark before the Autobots did. We hoped to find it and use its power to restore Cybertron.

After years of searching we has almost given up when message came through of its location on an unknown planet. This Planet. Unfortunately the Autobots had also gotten message of its location. There was an inflight battle between us and we crash-landed on Earth some years ago. Since then we had been searching for the Allspark in secret, it was not until a few years ago that humans became aware of our existence.

The battle broke out in one of your cities and that is how you humans became aware of us and also how the Autobots formed an alliance with the human government. The Autobots befriended your human government before I could and they formed an alliance with them, they are working together to kill off all Decepticons. Your human government is under the impression that us Decepticons are planning to destroy your race and planet however it is the Autobots that have those intentions to take over this planet for themselves."

"And what happened to the Allspark?"

"It is gone. Destroyed, and now without it we are a fading race. Without the Allspark we cannot reproduce."

Megatron watched Rachel's expression change as she heard this.  
>"I-I'm so sorry Megatron. I can't imagine what it would be like to know what you are one of the last of your species." She said honestly, sadness lacing her words. Megatron used a single finger to lift her head up.<br>"Our race has spread very far across the universe. I do find myself hoping that a colony of Transformers is existing somewhere safe from this war" Megatron said somewhat honestly. Rachel placed a hand on his finger.  
>"I hope so too." The two shared a silent moment before Rachel let her hand fall back by her side and Megatron withdrew his finger.<p>

"Back when I found you, were all your injuries from the battle which revealed your existence to humans?"

"No I sustained those injuries from an ambush. I was led by one of my soldiers into a trap. He claimed there was energon in a secret location and led me to it. But the location was actually where the Autobots were residing. My soldier fled as I was attacked and I barely escaped with my life."  
>"Actually I think I remember you telling me about that when we first fixed you. His name was Starshriek or something right?"<br>"Starscream." Megatron said the name bitterly. Rachel noticed the ice in his voice and turn the conversation.

"Megatron what is it you exactly need me to do to help you?" Megatron had to admit she was only a backup plan if his plans involving the Autobot scout weren't successful but he still felt he needed the girl. Though he still didn't understand why.  
>"If my plan involving the Autobot scout is not successful I will need you to become a mole and feed me information from the Autobots such as locations of other Decepticons and their battle plans and weaknesses. It is of the most importance that I find my Decepticon soldiers and defeat the Autobots before they wipe out your race and take over the planet. It is possible that the future of your race will depend on you Rachel." Megatron lied through his teeth and watched as Rachel thought over everything he had said. Finally she looked him straight into the optics and simply said.<p>

"If it means the survival of the human race then I will help you."

Megatron was pleased with her response. This was what he wanted from the girl, to gain over her trust and loyalty.

**A/N: Hello everyone! I apologize so much for how long it has been. I got very caught up in my school work and exams around the time I posted my last chapter so I had to spend some time concentrating on all that stuff.**

**I've been spending the last few weeks editing all my old chapters. So if you want to, go back to chapter one and re-read my story and hopefully I have edited all the typos. If not, message me the chapter and where it is because I hate having typos in my story!**

**If anyone would like to be a beta to this story I would greatly appreciate it!**

**I have not given up on this story and I will be posting more chapters soon!**

**Please review what you think of it so far. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Strange neighbours**

**Chapter Sixteen: Found**

Two days after returning home from Nevada, Samantha woke up early and started the day with cleaning up her room. She even went as far as cleaning her windows and dusting away the cobwebs that had accumulated in her walk-in wardrobe. Once she'd finished cleaning Samantha made herself a sandwich then walked out to the garage while eating it.  
>She hadn't been into the garage since she had helped Dave stack up boxes in there when they'd first moved in. Once inside she looked over the garage, there were fewer boxes in there than she remembered. <em>Dad must have begun unpacking them already<em>, she thought as she stuffed the last of the sandwich into her mouth.

Samantha started moving some boxes around trying to find one that belonged to her. She shoved and heaved boxes of all sizes around until one large box uncovered something she had forgotten about weeks ago. Her big project. Samantha started moving more boxes out of the way, slowly uncovering the car engine she had been working on. Once most of the old Honda had been uncovered she stared at it expressionless thinking of all the work she still needed to put into it before it was finished. As she was mentally listing things the Autobots suddenly popped up in her head. Memories of Bumblebee attacking her began surfacing and Samantha closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she could still hear the thunderous footsteps as she got chased, she could still feel the pain of being swatted by the big metal hand and the heat of the cannon on her skin.

She opened her eyes and looked the car over again, almost paranoid that it was about to transform into some kind of terrifying robot and attack her. For some reason Samantha couldn't shake off the feeling as she stared at the car, she felt uncomfortable standing near it and all thoughts of finishing her big project were forgotten.  
>Samantha took a large sheet off a shelf and dragged it over the car until it was completely covered then she began stacking the boxes back in front of the car, hiding it from sight.<p>

Once the boxes were back in place and Samantha had packed all her tools away she closed the garage door and walked back inside trying to distract herself. Despite her efforts Samantha kept thinking about that night. She knew she wouldn't be going back into the garage for a while.

…

Sam wiped away sweat that was beading off his brow with his sleeve as he jogged along the foot path. He looked down as his phone screen to check his progress and it read that he'd gone 0.7 miles so he pushed on. He was using the bet he had with Miles to distract himself for the next few days rather than sit around and stress over what could be happening to Bumblebee. Sam quickly shook off the thought Bumblebee and turned onto someone's property. He slowed to walk and rang the doorbell and waited for the door to be answered.

A few moments later Miles, dressed in running clothes, opened the door and gave Sam a brotherly hug.  
>"Hey man, glad to see you showed up. How far have you run?" Miles asked as they walked towards the footpath.<br>"zero point seven miles. Oh that's funny, I thought you'd be happy I didn't show up so then you wouldn't have any competition." The two started a slow jog to let Miles warm up.  
>"Dude you aren't even competition anyway. Four miles today?" Sam laughed at Miles's comment.<br>"Oh really? We could raise the stakes of our bet if you're feeling that confident. Yeah four miles sounds good."  
>"You wanna raise the stakes? I'm game. How much do you wanna raise it? How about you get me a date with that new neighbour of yours you told me about?" Miles laughed at his own sentence and Sam felt a stab of something he'd never felt before.<br>"No way man." He tried to make it sound casual but Miles heard the underlining note in his voice.  
>"Hey dude I'm only joking" he said apologetically.<br>"Yeah… I know." Sam said looking straight ahead, he didn't mean to sound so blunt but it just happened. Miles said nothing and they picked up speed and jogged silently for a while until Miles finally did say something.  
>"You like her don't you?"<p>

Sam didn't know what to say to him and before he could reply Miles chuckled.  
>"I knew it. That's cool man, why haven't you asked her out yet? Still trying to get her attention with your lame pickup lines?" Miles was talking about when they were younger and used to try very cliché pickup lines on girls at parties.<br>"Shut up" he answered jokingly,  
>"I'm not sure yet, I think I do like her but I'm not entirely sure if she feels the same way and I don't want to risk asking her out too early."<p>

Miles's reply was not what Sam expected.  
>"Dude I totally know what you mean but make sure you don't miss your window cause once that window has passed you might never get it again and you'll never know if she ever felt the same way you do. Trust me, take the risk and ask her. You'll regret it every day once you miss that window. I go through that regret every day because I missed my window." Sam was a little shocked at the sudden wisdom coming from his usually relaxed and comical friend.<br>"Who was she?"  
>"Do you remember Lilly from our English class in year 11? It was her." Miles said wiping his face with his sleeve.<br>"Lilly Jackson? Yeah I remember her. I thought she started dating that Brad guy in the football team."

Sam remembered the girl Miles was talking about. She had short dark brown hair, always had a book tucked under her arm and hung out with a few of the quieter cheerleaders. He'd seen them talk to each other at school and in class but he never knew they'd been close.

"Yeah she did. I missed my window and never even told her how I felt about her. It is honestly the most painful thing to see the one person you care about most in the arms of someone else. Especially when you know it could have been your arms they're in." Miles looked ahead as he spoke and Sam was completely at a loss for words.

He thought about Samantha in the arms of another guy and felt a stab of jealousy. He thought about her in his arms and the jealousy vanished and something else began forming. Something he couldn't quite name. And just like that Sam knew Samantha was the one he wanted. She was the one he was going to fight for to get by his side.

He started jogging with a new determination in his stride and hoped like he'd never hoped before that he hadn't missed his window.

…

Optimus Prime pulled over near the last known location of Bumblebee. The rest of the NEST team followed suit as he transformed and looked in the direction they had to go. Off road and into thick scrubland.

:According to the analysts Bumblebee's signature cut out six miles south-east of this road:

He sent the coordinates to Ratchet and Ironhide as men were climbing out of their vehicle modes. Once clear of humans Ratchet transformed and walked away from the group and begun assessing tire marks and deep scratches on the road.

:He definitely transformed at speed here and proceeded into the scrubland in bipedal form just over there:

Ratchet replied indicating to a flattened patch of shrubbery before walking back to the group. A group of men were still unloading Ironhide's tray and the mech gave an impatient rev of his engine making the men hurriedly drag the rest of the chains out of the tray. As the last of the chain hit the ground Ironhide transformed and flexed his joints.

Lennox walked over to Optimus to discuss mission tactics.  
>"So the plan is that our air support will leave base now and land here in approximately six hours. I know that may present some problem if Bumblebee is still active and still attacking analysed threats but according to the analysts there is no other close by locations for our air support to land. So once Bumblebee is found and restrained if necessary we're, well you're going to have to carry him back here. We also have to do it before nightfall so the aircraft can take off. Dividing our men into three teams would spread our search perimeter and increase our chances of finding him before we lose daylight." Lennox said looking up at him.<p>

Optimus began calculating possible men for each team and the success rate of each option. He quickly reached a final result with the highest success rating and begun discussing with Lennox his results.

As Optimus and Lennox sorted out the details of the mission Ironhide and Ratchet picked up a length of chain each and begun wrapping it over their shoulder and across their chest until the lengths of chain were completely wrapped up and draping across the torso of each mech. Some of the men watched them do this and a few of them were quietly commenting to each other on how 'cowboy' they looked, Ironhide looked over at Ratchet questioningly before Optimus, who could hear what the men were saying, sent a video of a stereotypical country western cowboy over the open commlink.  
>Ratchet watched the video and burst out in a fit of laughter making some of the men jump and Ironhide chuckled at the men. The cowboy video didn't make sense to Ironhide, he didn't prove his skill by shooting at rusty cans on a fence, he shot at Decepticons and proved his skill by blowing them to pieces.<p>

"Alright men suit up!" Lennox's voice cut through all the laughter and all the men quickly began suiting up and gathering together where Lennox was standing. Once the men were all standing ready Lennox began breaking them up into three different teams and debriefing each team on what direction they would be searching once closer to the location of Bumblebee.

Soon three teams stood in front of Lennox. Team one consisting of Ratchet and three men including Epps, Team two was Optimus Prime and three men, and team three included Ironhide, three men and himself. They set off on foot following the trail of snapped tree branches and flattened bushes that Ratchet had found earlier. The three mechs treaded carefully through the scrublands constantly sweeping the area for even a glint of bright yellow plating.

The time went by and as they walked the scrubland and thinned out considerably. Eventually the NEST team got to the location where Bumblebee was last known to be. The teams split up and they began searching, Optimus remained calm as he walked with his team. He scanned the area over and over ignoring anxiety building up within him.  
>His team proceeded out of the scrubland and into an open area of land. Optimus could see Ratchet and his team emerging from the other side of the open area dense with trees.<p>

:Any sign of him Ratchet?:

:Nothing Prime:

Optimus nodded at Ratchet and vented deeply. He was beginning to become very worried, he would be letting down so many if he could not save Bumblebee. Himself included but none more than Sam.

:Ironhide report:

:No signs of him anywhere Prime:

:Argh! Keep searching!:

As the men kept searching Optimus stopped and looked up to the sky trying to calm his anxiety. He spotted a bird soaring through the air and watched it fly down towards the ground. It spiralled in large loops heading for the top of a tree which was growing in a valley that he was standing at the top of. A small thought hit Optimus and he slowly began to walk towards the valley, as he did the thought threaded into a feeling of hope.  
>Optimus reached the top of the hill, looked down and spotted a trail of dug up grass, broken saplings and gauges in some tree trunks. As his optics followed the slide of wreckage down the hill he sensed Ratchet and Ironhide walk over to him to investigate what he was looking at.<p>

His spark pulsed violently when he spotted at the end of the slide of wreckage some yellow plating under a pile of fallen branches and bark at the base of an old tree.  
>"There! I see him!" Optimus shouted pointing down the valley. He resisted every urge to run down to Bumblebee and see if he was okay. Ratchet followed his gaze and spotted Bumblebee then begun scanning the form as the men armed themselves ready for the worst to happen.<p>

"My scans are indicating he is in a stasis lock but there is only one way to be sure." Ratchet said then searched the ground until he found a 'small' rock which was about the size of a basketball. With extreme precision Ratchet flung the rock towards the unconscious Autobot and the whole team heard it clang off Bumblebee's metal plating.  
>There was a shared feeling of relief amongst the group when Bumblebee didn't come tearing up the hill cannon loaded and locked on them.<br>"Did you learn that procedure in medical school Ratch?" Epps joked. The medic looked down at him with a slightly crazed smile,  
>"No, over time I learnt use that procedure works on my patients who misbehave and try my patients."<br>"Except he throws wrenches and they leave dents" Ironhide added. Epps laughed and looked at Ironhide then back at Ratchet expecting for what he'd heard to be a joke but when he got nothing but a raised optic ridge from Ratchet he stopped smiling and moved over to the other side of Optimus. Ratchet sniggered at Epps then looked back down the valley,  
>"It is safe to proceed, just be on guard." The three teams began walking down the hill completely on guard until finally they were circling the unconscious scout and Ironhide was lifting the branches away.<p>

Once uncovered Optimus could see Bumblebee was in very bad shape. He walked forward then knelt down and cradled Bumblebee's helm for a moment but Ratchet was already working on repairing Bumblebee and shooed Optimus's large hands away so he could get to the scout's helm. Optimus stood quickly,  
>"Lennox! Is it possible to have our air support land here? Bumblebee needs immediate repair work!" Lennox turned to Epps,<br>"Epps! Call air support, find out if they can land here. We have wounded that need urgent repair work." Lennox said to Epps not at all shocked at the sudden urgency of Optimus. Lennox hadn't seen any of the Autobots in such bad shape before. A few minutes later Epps pulled his phone away from his ear,  
>"Optimus! Air support will be able to land, but it'll be a tight fit. He needs to be moved out of the valley." Optimus nodded at Epps,<p>

:Ratchet are we able to move him?:

:Yes Optimus, But he needs _urgent _repair work, his systems are completely drained. All of them:

"He will be moved, how long before air support get here?" Optimus asked  
>"They've already left, ETA ten minutes." Epps said putting his phone back in his pocket.<p>

"He is ready to be moved Prime" Ratchet said standing up and moving away from Bumblebee. Optimus turned and bent down carefully picking Bumblebee off the ground in one movement. He started walking back up the hill with both Ratchet and Ironhide instinctively on either side of him.

Once out of the valley Optimus gently lay Bumblebee down and let Ratchet continue working on the scout again. He settled himself of the ground and watched Ratchet work. Despite the way he was sitting Optimus was still able to leap and attack if something happened.

:It's not your fault this happened Optimus:

Optimus simply nodded at Ironhide's words. He didn't have the energy to say anything to his weapons specialist because he knew that this was completely his fault. If he had not left the base to get Perceptor and stayed to help with the procedure then Bumblebee's attack on the base, the Autobots almost breaking the treaty with the human government and causing Sam so much pain and anguish would have been avoided. He hoped not only for Sam's sake but for the sake of his species that Ratchet would be able to repair Bumblebee. He was one of the last youngest Autobots in existence.

The air support aircraft landed and Bumblebee was quickly loaded and strapped down using the chains that Ironhide and Ratchet had been carrying. The men walked in and the Autobots transformed and drove on board the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The group did not get back to base until the late evening. Ratchet had Bumblebee taken straight to the medical ward so he could begin proper repairs immediately, Lennox went to debrief the other officers on the mission and Optimus found an empty hangar where he could recharge and forget how anxious he was feeling.

…

Sam put the phone up to his ear and bit his lip as he listened to the dial tone. He almost lost his nerve and hung up the phone before he heard an answer.

{Hello?}

"Samantha hey it's Sam." He heard Samantha laugh into the phone,

{Yeah I know, I have your number. So what's up?}

"Ah I was wondering if you wanted to hangout sometime this afternoon? Like we could go get a milkshake or hot chips… or something?" Sam stopped rambling and waited for her response.

{Um… I like milkshakes. Do you know any good places?}

Sam exhaled relieved  
>"yeah I know a great place for milkshakes, so I'll come get you in say half an hour?"<p>

{Yeah sure. See you then}

she replied happily. Sam heard the line cut off and he exhaled and put his phone back in his pocket. _Time to get ready_ he thought as he reached for a clean shirt and deodorant can.

…

Samantha was lying on the grass in the sun watching a ladybug make its way along a long green blade. The sudden vibrations of her phone made her jump and she rolled over, reached into her bra and pulled her phone out. She stared at the caller ID for a moment before answering.  
>"Hello?"<p>

{Samantha hey it's Sam.}

Samantha couldn't help but laugh a hearing Sam introduce himself.  
>"Yeah I know, I have your number. So what's up?"<p>

{Ah I was wondering if you wanted to hangout sometime this afternoon? Like we could go get a milkshake or hot chips… or something?}

Sam stopped talking and Samantha wasn't sure if he was going to keep talking so she waited a moment before replying.  
>"um…I like milkshakes. Do you know any good places?" she said with a smile and heard Sam exhale.<p>

{yeah I know a great place for milkshakes, so I'll come get you in say half an hour?}

"Yeah sure. See you then" she replied happily then hung up the phone. Samantha sat up then realized she needed to get changed because yoga pants and belly shirt weren't exactly acceptable clothes to wear in public. She jumped up and couldn't help but skip happily into the house.

Once she was in her room Samantha put on a pair of high waisted denim shorts and tucked a green and black top into it. She put her hair into a loose side pony tail with curls hanging around her face then put on a very small amount of gold eye shadow and mascara. Once she was ready she waited outside on the front porch with her purse and phone.

Soon enough Sam pulled up in the driveway and Samantha got up, gave Sam a hug then slid neatly into the passenger seat.  
>"Hey Perceptor, how are you?" she asked patting the dash board.<br>"I am very well Samantha, thankyou for asking. I hope you are well." Perceptor replied as Sam got into the driver's seat.  
>"Yeah, not too bad." She said casually as Sam started the car.<p>

Sam drove into town to an area that Samantha had been to a few times with her family, it was an area full of families doing their weekly grocery shopping, old couples out for a daily walk and where kids rode through on their bikes and skateboards to get to the skate park. Samantha missed her roller blades.

They parked the car and Sam lead Samantha down the busy street for a few minutes then turned off and headed down a narrow side street,  
>"Where are we going?" Samantha asked speeding up to keep up with Sam's fast pace.<br>"To the place that serves the _best _milkshakes I've ever had in my life." Sam said as he slowed and let an elderly couple walk by then continued on to the corner of the side street where a small café stood. Samantha was surprised she didn't notice it before, there was a grapevine growing up the poles and canopy that covered the outside seats of the building.

They walked in and Sam pointed to a chalk board on the wall that had all the milkshake flavours, Samantha looked at each flavour then picked one and went to order. She opened her purse to pay but Sam handed over enough money to pay for both their drinks before she could pay herself.  
><em>Is…Is this a date?<em> She thought surprised as Sam pulled a seat out for her to sit on.

…

Ratchet had worked non-stop all through the night on refuelling Bumblebee's systems and repairing physical damage the scout's battle computer had caused. Bumblebee was still in a stasis lock but Ratchet was sure to restrain Bumblebee as much as possible while working on him. He didn't look up as Optimus walked into the hangar. The leader stopped near the berth and watched Ratchet work.  
>"Yes Prime?"<br>"How is he going?" Ratchet finished what he was working on then stood straight and walked around the berth to work on a different part of Bumblebee's frame.  
>"It's going to take a few days of refuelling his systems and repairing physical damage before I can even online Bumblebee and fix his battle computer." Ratchet heard Optimus vent and settle himself before responding,<br>"how long is a few days?" Ratchet stopped his work and turned to face Optimus  
>"I'd say five days before I'll try to online him. However I am not confident about fixing his battle processor alone, I may need Perceptor's help during the procedure."<br>"When do you need him on base?"  
>"Not yet, I'll report to you when I am ready to begin repairs on his battle computer."<br>"Okay, I'll leave you to continue repairing him." Optimus said looking at Bumblebee. Ratchet placed a hand on Optimus's shoulder,  
>"go rest Prime, he will be okay." Ratchet gently pushed Optimus towards the door of the hangar and didn't turn back to his work until Optimus had left.<p>

**A/N: Don't forget to review! **


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